"\u003C!DOCTYPE html\u003E\u003Chtml xmlns:xlink=\u0022http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\u0022 xmlns:xsi=\u0022http://www.w3.org/2007/XMLSchema-instance\u0022 xmlns:mml=\u0022http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Chead\u003E\n    \u003CMETA http-equiv=\u0022Content-Type\u0022 content=\u0022text/html; charset=utf-16\u0022\u003E\n    \u003Cmeta name=\u0022viewport\u0022 content=\u0022width=device-width, initial-scale=1\u0022\u003E\n  \u003C/head\u003E\n  \u003Cbody style=\u0022font-family:sans-serif; font-size:100%;\u0022\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000001\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022176315ff92014ad5ba206914408715a3\u0022\u003ETUESDAY, 2 JUNE 2020\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000003\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u002236b77062948a4ad7a2646dccabee874a\u0022\u003ETUESDAY, 2 JUNE 2020\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000002\u0022\u003EThe Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000004\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u002256aa65f8f82344f59ad15236b6fee44d\u0022\u003EPrayers\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000006\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00228746e0bd5d504a01a8c8755884e6f08f\u0022\u003EPrayers\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022 data-id=\u0022288f5e661064489c868a069de2442d9f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000005\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022288f5e661064489c868a069de2442d9f\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Members, last week was Samoan Language Week, but due to a combination of circumstances, we did not have the opportunity to have the prayer in Samoan. To make up for that, I have asked Agnes Loheni to say the prayer in Samoan today.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c46106ec-7b2f-4d6f-a7f2-8525ae4550f6\u0022 data-id=\u0022647aa333cbe64cf0b41c637a6c1808d2\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000007\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c46106ec-7b2f-4d6f-a7f2-8525ae4550f6\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022647aa333cbe64cf0b41c637a6c1808d2\u0022\u003EAGNES LOHENI (National):\u003C/span\u003E Tatou ifo ma tatalo. Le Atua Silisili ese e, matou te sulaina lau Afio mo fa\u2018amanuiaga ma tofi ua e fa\u2018au\u2018uina ai i matou. E lafoa\u2018i ni o matou lagona ma manatua ta\u2018ito\u2018atasi i le amana\u2018iaina o le Masiofo o Peretania. Matou te tatalo ina ia tonu ma fa\u2018amaoni fuafuaga ma fa\u2018ai\u2018uga uma i totonu o lenei Maota Fono. Ia talosia ta\u2018ita\u2018i o lenei M\u0101l\u014D ina ia maua le t\u014Df\u0101 mamao, le fa\u2018apalepale ma le agamal\u016B, au\u0101 le manuia ma le filem\u016B o Niu Sila. O le matou tatalo lea, e ala atu i le suafa pele o Iesu Keriso, Amene.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000008\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00226e982ec7da6643a8950d33ff553fba99\u0022\u003EOral Questions\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000009\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022e88ca368543049aca76baa47c3f05038\u0022\u003EQuestions to Ministers\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000010\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00222618b4f6ea534f38a58901d62c27fb91\u0022\u003EQuestion No. 1\u2014Prime Minister\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022 data-id=\u0022b6fe9c8dfdbe4ae1953284a3ea22f5f3\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000011\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E1. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022b6fe9c8dfdbe4ae1953284a3ea22f5f3\u0022\u003ETODD MULLER (Leader of the Opposition)\u003C/span\u003E to the Prime Minister: Will she accept my offer to work with the Government to implement National\u2019s JobStart policy as soon as possible?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022 data-id=\u002293a3506233a84641bb43b282191d9639\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000012\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002293a3506233a84641bb43b282191d9639\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister):\u003C/span\u003E I understand the member wrote to the Minister of Finance to request this, and I will leave it, ultimately, to the Minister of Finance to respond to his correspondence. We do, however, welcome constructive ideas for getting people into work. Ideas such as the one the member has already proposed have been in the mix or already exist in some form as part of the Government\u2019s programme. I do want to add, however, that the focus at the moment is on making sure we\u2019re helping businesses to hold on to as many workers as they can, through things like the wage subsidy and other direct support like changes in our tax regime, and the small business loan scheme, which has already lent over a billion dollars. While we still have workers being laid off, we do need to make sure we do everything we can to keep them in work.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000013\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228239479f673c46c4bd250b5f2ea15ee8\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: I repeat the question: will she accept my offer to work with the Government to implement National\u2019s JobStart policy as soon as possible?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000014\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a81af8c091a044d28daf0a9cebe9692a\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: And I repeat my answer: I will leave it to the Minister of Finance to respond to his request, but I will refer the member to the programme called Mana in Mahi, which is also a subsidy to employers that totals $9,580 in subsidy. A major difference between this scheme and what the member is proposing is that there is a requirement to keep an employee in training, to try and stop the potential churn that some commentators have raised might be an issue with the scheme the member has proposed.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000015\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002223208f696d43463cbeff573ed83316ad\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: Why, then, did her finance Minister say in relation to JobStart on Friday\u2014and I quote\u2014\u201CIt\u2019s certainly an idea that we\u2019re prepared to consider \u2026 We welcome constructive ideas that are about getting people into work.\u201D; or does she not consider that JobStart delivers on that?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000016\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e608774b591b4dba975379b6511cb780\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: I actually just said we welcome constructive ideas for getting people into work, and ideas such as this are already in the mix. I have not dismissed it, because, if I were to dismiss it, I would be dismissing the entire premise of Mana in Mahi, which is also a subsidy scheme for employers to take on employees. A big difference, though, is that that programme has overcome the issue of people potentially being hired and then potentially being fired in order to access a subsidy, which I\u2019m sure the member would wish to avoid as well.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000017\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ec29a214784b4697bffeb99af9a9b84f\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: Does she agree that businesses in New Zealand would find a $10,000 cash grant for each new hire beneficial as they try to grow following the staggering impact of COVID-19?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000018\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002209f07fc764f740b78d1de3e82e130246\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: Mana in Mahi provides that opportunity for employers. Again I highlight: it provides a $9,580 wage support element to it that goes to the employer. But it does more than that. It provides pastoral support so the employer doesn\u2019t have to worry about whether or not a trainee shows up for work every day. It includes an extra $2,000 for education support. If an employer is taking someone on with the intention of training them, that is also often a barrier. So it is a much more comprehensive programme. We have considered whether or not we could scale it up and/or broaden the criteria for it, and that\u2019s why I say ideas like this are in the mix.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000019\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022201854ba6ce04714a2bd71e6b00c2c18\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: Does she support $10,000 per new employee for every New Zealand business who is prepared to take someone on at a moment of economic crisis?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000020\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228ef190d8c4074660a87d2f40e0566d8f\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: I support the programme that is providing $9,580 in wage support already. So, when it comes to programmes that provide wage support, I do support that concept; in fact, I worked alongside the Minister of Employment in the development around the programme. I\u2019ve been a long-time advocate of it. But what the member is advocating doesn\u2019t account for issues around churn, and it doesn\u2019t account for the fact that right now businesses need us to help them keep the staff they have.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000021\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ce9718a89fb54920b657070ee0f5c3d1\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: Has she received positive feedback on JobStart, as I have, from the business community since it was announced on Friday?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ebf32a1f2b40475b95116a856b38c1b7\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019ve seen a mix of responses, but, again, I won\u2019t take the fact that some people have been negative about it as a reason not to pursue the idea of wage support.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000023\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223f94b70633cd48fcb664b58ec04d2dbb\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: Yes\u2014that was just Grant. Does she agree with Business New Zealand\u2019s Kirk Hope\u2014and I quote\u2014\u201CNo one has a monopoly on good ideas right now, and anything that will make jobs for Kiwis should be welcomed.\u201D?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000024\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221c81fbd13e804c81a47f01b160449acf\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: I can see the member isn\u2019t used to receiving praise. I have already said that we welcome constructive ideas. We have not dismissed the idea of wage subsidies. In fact, I\u2019ve already acknowledged that we\u2019ve used them in the past. So I again repeat to the member: I\u2019m not dismissing his policy; I am pointing out that there are issues that need to be worked through, and we\u2019re considering them as part of our work programme.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000025\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220297a91656e14679a71011071f0b28cb\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: Can I ask the Prime Minister whether it\u2019s a fact that she welcomes any idea, even those that include throwing cash at the problem when it doesn\u2019t include their mates?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000026\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225b0c5f2b5e0a4a6d9e4bf62ef6f18685\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: I think the member is perhaps referring to the fact that we have done a lot of rigorous work around the way we\u2019ve used Mana in Mahi. I point to the fact that the member\u2019s last Government, the National Government, through the global financial crisis, used Community Max. It stumbled across problems. We want to learn from those, and that\u2019s exactly what we are doing in the development of our policy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000027\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225d2b397ae51f47b9abf5805af2d637c5\u0022\u003EHon Grant Robertson\u003C/span\u003E: Has the Prime Minister seen the feedback on the policy from economist Tony Alexander, who said, \u201CThis is an incentive for businesses to lay off 10 employees then go to the Government two weeks later and say \u2018I now need to hire 10 employees, can I have my money please?\u2019 \u201D\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000028\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dc6c0f88-e781-476d-bca1-d1bf9b69302b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f4222c142d1348ae80c2f3cad4af5510\u0022\u003EHon Amy Adams\u003C/span\u003E: Read the detail.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000029\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221677bdf7b14e40b18ff057339a70fa2a\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: That\u2019s all right.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000030\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e8e70b6b8bb84bd398f0c1917ea48e61\u0022\u003EHon Grant Robertson\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014and he went on to say, \u201CIn reality, this is not what the economy needs at the moment.\u201D?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000031\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00220d3ed6b5e1264f4fb0d2bf0cb4d27374\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, and I have read the, I think, three or four pages that the National Party provided in detail around this policy. I\u2019m not letting the fact that there was a lack of detail get in the way, though, of supporting constructive ideas. I am, however, pointing out that there are issues we would need to account for, and that\u2019s the kind of thing Mana in Mahi does.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000032\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022162527dc464e4d0392a71d3bbba789a6\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: So the Prime Minister\u2019s confirming to the House that half a million businesses in this country do not see value in a $10,000 grant to assist them to take on an extra person?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000033\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dab8f407a0d9492395ec02940a2cd99d\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: I say again: there is very little difference between the concept of a wage subsidy and the concept of Mana in Mahi, except for the fact we have accounted for the fact that\u2014oh, sorry, forgive me, Mr Speaker; it was actually two pages\u2014the detail of the member\u2019s plan does not deal with the fact that we might see churn, we might see people who are employed and then within, my recollection is, six months be sacked, and they\u2019re expecting IRD to monitor all of that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000034\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fd073c74fc934bc8948b4207e0b2afc1\u0022\u003EHon Grant Robertson\u003C/span\u003E: Does the Prime Minister think it\u2019s her responsibility to finish Todd Muller\u2019s homework?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000035\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022767acb4b258941b2b29de0167b2a4655\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Order! Order! The member knew that was out of order. He will stand, withdraw, and apologise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000036\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bd1297ad43094aa18b134b64dd45d6dd\u0022\u003EHon Grant Robertson\u003C/span\u003E: I withdraw and apologise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000037\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223e77a18abf2d4961aaffe5dc66368ba2\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: I ask again: half a million New Zealand businesses are seeking clarification\u2014do you support $10,000 on the table to assist them to employ one more person to get out of this COVID recovery nightmare?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000038\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225d2554f9a8eb49c49089bfb5b3282991\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: Again, I will just highlight again that, actually, that is not what I have frequently had correspondence from businesses on. It is about keeping their existing staff, and that is why we have focused on a more than $10 billion wage subsidy programme: because businesses don\u2019t want to lose the people they have. There will be a period in the recovery, and we are gearing up with that around apprenticeships and keeping them in their roles, around things like using Mana in Mahi, but I don\u2019t apologise for the fact that we have focused on job retention and then job creation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000039\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022e4030bf587ce4941801991354c9d7ec9\u0022\u003EQuestion No. 2\u2014Environment\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a5f0fe84-01e8-4eb3-a590-0025017c4243\u0022 data-id=\u00220629bcaaacef478488eb37df98c32ac9\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000040\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a5f0fe84-01e8-4eb3-a590-0025017c4243\u0022\u003E2. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00220629bcaaacef478488eb37df98c32ac9\u0022\u003EMARAMA DAVIDSON (Co-Leader\u2014Green)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister for the Environment: How will new standards for freshwater, announced last Thursday, help create healthy waterways and swimmable rivers within a generation?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022 data-id=\u002271b5de98b35c41d09e2d17b64d7e1efc\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000041\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002271b5de98b35c41d09e2d17b64d7e1efc\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment):\u003C/span\u003E Yes. The Government is delivering on its commitment to clean up our waterways with reforms that will deliver environmental gains, jobs, and benefits for the economy while supporting farmers with $700 million in funding to assist with things like riparian planting and the installation and fencing of many wetlands to trap sediment. The standards apply equally to rural and urban waterways and include specific controls on covering urban streams. We\u2019re also setting higher standards for health at swimming spots, putting controls on higher risk farm practice such as winter grazing and feed lots, setting stricter controls on nitrogen pollution and new bottom lines on other attributes of waterway health. We\u2019re ensuring faster council planning, requiring mandatory and enforceable farm environment plans, and I\u2019ve said these actions are supported with funding for on-the-ground works.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000042\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a5f0fe84-01e8-4eb3-a590-0025017c4243\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022aa351495f6ab4bb4818d98cc838ac9be\u0022\u003EMarama Davidson\u003C/span\u003E: How will embedding m\u0101tauranga M\u0101ori principles for water management in our regulations recognise iwi and hap\u016B kaitiakitanga and improve water health?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000043\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002209e6e1204479403c96855646d559adfe\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER\u003C/span\u003E: Consultation showed widespread support from all sectors of society for using te mana o te wai as the guiding principle to prioritise first the health of the waterway, then the needs of people, and then commercial needs. A mahinga kai attribute will assist in ensuring eco-system health so that all New Zealanders can enjoy and benefit from healthy rivers and clean water for the decades to come. And, lastly, in respect of the plan-making process that\u2019s being legislated under the Resource Management Act, there will be an iwi representative on panels.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000044\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a5f0fe84-01e8-4eb3-a590-0025017c4243\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222df6777021864276831198d30ebb46a3\u0022\u003EMarama Davidson\u003C/span\u003E: What new obligations will be applied to regional councils to reduce E. coli and promote swimmable rivers and lakes?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000045\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222b4e66515d284cb39dcff2f62f80a4dc\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER\u003C/span\u003E: I think we\u2019ve got to the point that virtually all New Zealanders now agree that New Zealanders should be able to pop down to their local river in summer and put their head under without the risk of getting crook. This package includes an additional E. coli attribute that will apply to primary contact sites during the swimming season and will require councils to reduce those risks substantially.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000046\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a5f0fe84-01e8-4eb3-a590-0025017c4243\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227eab65380eda4fbc8bd957889d00b0ba\u0022\u003EMarama Davidson\u003C/span\u003E: What is the time frame for introducing a dissolved inorganic nitrogen standard to complement other tools for managing nitrogen runoff introduced in this package of reforms?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000047\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a7cb034eb8194b86ba2ba899c0b92535\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER\u003C/span\u003E: That will be a decision for the next Government, after the election. In the meantime, there is a new input control which puts a limit of 190 kilograms of synthetic nitrogen to be applied per hectare per annum. This is estimated to require a change in practice from an estimated 20 percent of dairy farms\u201480 percent of dairy farmers already meet this standard. The package also strengthens the existing nitrogen toxicity attribute in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management by requiring protection of 95 percent of vulnerable species from the toxic effects of nitrate levels, up from 80 percent in the current national policy statement.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000048\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00226754c34398954ee8b63ed9985ca9bb35\u0022\u003EQuestion No. 3\u2014Prime Minister\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022 data-id=\u0022a2694fea6f2c457b8f84e90b55bce854\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000049\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E3. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a2694fea6f2c457b8f84e90b55bce854\u0022\u003ETODD MULLER (Leader of the Opposition)\u003C/span\u003E to the Prime Minister: What new information, if any, was provided to Cabinet today to inform the discussion for a move to level 1?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022 data-id=\u002264ba4f98dec6432791ddec08a61b1831\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000050\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002264ba4f98dec6432791ddec08a61b1831\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister):\u003C/span\u003E Today, Cabinet considered the time line for future papers on the move to alert level 1. As I indicated this morning, a paper will be brought on 8 June on the basis of our ongoing success in managing COVID-19 and the fact our team of 5 million has exceeded expectations. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000051\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002279d42cfca9d34ffca3d5adcba596aab7\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: Was there substantive discussion at Cabinet today over moving to level 1 today?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000052\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002275dcd576b4d344e4aa33fbddf81d1792\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: As I\u2019ve indicated, the substantive discussion related to the bringing of a paper on 8 June. The member will recall that in my post-Cabinet press conference\u2014I believe it was a week ago\u2014I indicated that was a time line that we would be working to. I broadened out, though, the original suggestion that 8 June was just around the level 2 settings to now include a review of whether or not we are ready to move to level 1.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000053\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ab8d32ee3bc74f84a747fb0727c29fda\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: What was the specific advice, if any, Cabinet received today on whether to move to level 1?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000054\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022673e0a06df494eefa8649d0f9c264436\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: I will refer the member to the criteria that we will consider on 8 June, as we have considered every time. Those criteria are the number of cases, which the member will have been able to see as well as I have: that we have had zero cases for 11 days now; we also have seen a reduction in active cases. So on that basis, we started discussing last week with the Ministry of Health whether or not we should bring forward our consideration of alert level 1. We also consider things like economic ramifications, the readiness of the public health system, contact tracing, and compliance issues. These are all in the public domain.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000055\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d84bd925face4ee8b224c7aee048fe4f\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: Will she release the advice received over the pathway to level 1 because of the high public interest in this issue?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000056\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222c2fee2893d941e2b610d853e1d53da3\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: The criteria that we use for consideration of alert level movements are already in the public domain. When it comes to the specific decision, we proactively release Cabinet papers after they\u2019ve been considered, and that will happen on 8 June. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000057\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a883e0abce9a4cf680cc108726fddaa2\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: Why won\u2019t she release the information discussed today as to why we are not in level 1 today? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000058\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002259d6c9e22c6d4f8688c6336457852459\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: Cabinet has not considered the move to level 1. Once we have considered the move, then we release the decision and the information. What I signalled today is we have brought forward that decision making. We\u2019ve always said that based on the evidence that we have, we are willing to bring forward our consideration. The member can see as well as I can that we have had ongoing zero case days. That gives us confidence to reconsider the time frames. I will say again, though: moving earlier than that, there is still ongoing concern amongst the scientific community around asymptomatic transmission. It is worse for business if we move backwards rather than continually moving forwards. So we will continually balance our decision making.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000059\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022efcfd9220075470ba3f68672d57b3d80\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: What is her response to the Deputy Prime Minister, who was reported this morning saying that alert level 2 restrictions have to be discussed: \u201CIt would be very difficult if it\u2019s not a matter of discussion because of what happened a day before Cabinet.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000060\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227a188a291b154e1ab698cf65fc287e51\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: The events around vigils and gatherings have absolutely nothing to do with the evidence base we have used for our decision making all the way through the management of COVID-19. The second point I will make is we currently have some of the most liberal settings in the world right now because of the effectiveness of our strategy to date. And for that, I thank New Zealanders.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000061\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222d322c188ea54c97a661aa28fe7b6888\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: Could I ask the Prime Minister as to whether it\u2019s her view that caucus\u2014or, for that matter, having Cabinet as well\u2014leaking like a sieve is not very good for party unity and Government unity. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000062\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221e24655cf62a46849b808ea5a628b47d\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Order! Order! \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000063\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002284b6165b3eda4ba4af50113bda22ce1b\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: What\u2019s wrong with that?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000064\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a27db7518fb44572ac8826e4c6b841d1\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Very clearly there are some areas that are the Prime Minister\u2019s responsibility, and leaking from caucuses is not one of them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000065\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022cf4df1e880ee43f98f422ffd736218d4\u0022\u003EHon Chris Hipkins\u003C/span\u003E: What would be the risk of moving with urgency to reopen the border to countries such as China, as proposed last week by the Leader of the Opposition?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000066\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223128621c7ed54403ad0c0bdd0ef0a662\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: The basis of us moving to level 1 is contingent on us maintaining strict border controls. That continues to be one of our biggest risks. Maintaining those border controls actually gives New Zealanders freedom of movement and means we don\u2019t have to live with restrictions. [Interruption] \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000067\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022da78816df13a4eeb8a446818361f84da\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Order! Sorry, I\u2019m just going to remind the Hon Louise Upston, yet again, that when she interjects, her voice comes through her leader\u2019s mikes. If she can\u2019t remember, I\u2019m going to ask the whips to find a place for her which is not directly behind the leader, so we\u2019re not all subjected to her interjections at that volume.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000068\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228adcebbdc3a749279cbcbaed9652d52f\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: How does she expect New Zealanders to follow social distancing rules when her Deputy Prime Minister has publicly stated we should be in level 1 now?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000069\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bbedb58e3a934d5b81066a76f651cf76\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: The fact that we have different opinions on this issue has not meant that anyone in the Cabinet has deviated away from upholding the rules that are in place, or the expectation around the rules. What I will say is unlike, perhaps, some are modelling on the other side of the House, we are very aware of each other\u2019s opinions and we talk openly about them before we talk publicly about them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000070\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d6aa58d21f1e474cbc0c3796fe7b0691\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: What part of the Deputy Prime Minister\u2019s recent comments on COVID-19 doesn\u2019t equal deviation from your view?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000071\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022cdd92ddc193547eab14467ae2099f4ca\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: Again, to answer the member\u2019s question, he implied that the member was breaking the rules.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000072\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022fdb01002-a7cf-4a77-8f05-678d24a36849\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225e4069f12de740568a8fbdb5d47ffd4a\u0022\u003ETodd Muller\u003C/span\u003E: Does she agree with her Deputy Prime Minister that in respect of COVID-19, we have, and I quote, \u201Cbeen too cautious for far too long now?\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000073\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022aa2209f1-1889-4c24-b51d-cb2aedc7aa93\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002230acdbbfbbaa43fd89322d36e05bb800\u0022\u003ERt Hon JACINDA ARDERN\u003C/span\u003E: The member runs the risk of me bringing up all of the differing opinions that sit within his one party. You happen to be asking questions about two different parties.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000074\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022a0aa013bf3444feb94ca4b993336e853\u0022\u003EQuestion No. 4\u2014Finance\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002253f86481-33c1-48b2-893b-c11cc0bd673d\u0022 data-id=\u002287d880c664ef46968cd78a728f5d8fc8\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000075\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002253f86481-33c1-48b2-893b-c11cc0bd673d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002287d880c664ef46968cd78a728f5d8fc8\u0022\u003EHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National):\u003C/span\u003E How much new spending in response to the COVID-19 crisis\u2014[Interruption] \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000076\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222b18963848ee422b9e5e15ced2d1249f\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Order! I\u2019m just going to ask the member to start again and I\u2019m going to ask the interjector to cease.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002253f86481-33c1-48b2-893b-c11cc0bd673d\u0022 data-id=\u0022dee1946c06d14576af4f9c87001c61bc\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000077\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002253f86481-33c1-48b2-893b-c11cc0bd673d\u0022\u003E4. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022dee1946c06d14576af4f9c87001c61bc\u0022\u003EHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Finance: How much new spending in response to the COVID-19 crisis has the Government announced so far, and how much has been spent to date?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022 data-id=\u0022b270548a74404186a6ab6087e795c4e2\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000078\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022b270548a74404186a6ab6087e795c4e2\u0022\u003EHon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E The Government has set aside $62 billion for investments to support the economy through this one-in-100-year pandemic. This includes the $50 billion COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund announced in the Budget and the initial $12 billion economic package announced on 17\u00A0March. To date, about $43 billion has been announced and allocated over the forecast period, including for schemes to protect jobs and support businesses like the wage subsidy scheme, the Small Business Cashflow (Loan) Scheme, and changes to the tax system. At the same time, the Government has committed significant new investment for essential public services like health and education. In answer to the second part of the question, the Crown accounts for April and May have not yet been finalised, but Treasury forecasts that more than $26 billion will be spent in the current year to 30 June to support the economy through this one-in-100-year event.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000079\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002253f86481-33c1-48b2-893b-c11cc0bd673d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bfb1e4f4330b41c89e3c49ff8a3eb2dd\u0022\u003EHon Paul Goldsmith\u003C/span\u003E: How much additional spending has he so far planned to announce before the general election in September?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000080\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002249db20b7c0984fe79b7a4ee7e2af6201\u0022\u003EHon GRANT ROBERTSON\u003C/span\u003E: At this stage, as the member knows, we have $20 billion remaining in the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund to spend as necessary on response and recovery from COVID-19. As the member knows, the Government has been very flexible all the way through our response to ensure we meet need as it arises, but I don\u2019t have any specific plans in that regard.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000081\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002253f86481-33c1-48b2-893b-c11cc0bd673d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002289b2fe5d0e1149edbd53adf270367add\u0022\u003EHon Paul Goldsmith\u003C/span\u003E: Would he have to spend less if the economy was opened up sooner, as suggested by the Deputy Prime Minister?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000082\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022996e2a4ee4114190817cbd98bbd8fae6\u0022\u003EHon GRANT ROBERTSON\u003C/span\u003E: Well, as I think I said in the House last week, the big difference in terms of the operation of the economy is between level 3 and level 2, where there\u2019s about a 10 percentage point improvement in output, versus the move from level 2 to level 1, which would be about half of that, at 5 percentage points. Like all New Zealanders, I want to see our society and our economy opened up as quickly as possible and in the safest possible manner.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000083\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002253f86481-33c1-48b2-893b-c11cc0bd673d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227369129da3ea4e89a34ef3257f83cb6a\u0022\u003EHon Paul Goldsmith\u003C/span\u003E: Will he be explicit before the election about any tax increases being considered by a Labour Government, if it were to be re-elected, to pay for his additional spending?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000084\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002210b0d87d756a44fdb3f10e3f877ad326\u0022\u003EHon GRANT ROBERTSON\u003C/span\u003E: As the Minister of Finance in the coalition Government, I\u2019ve been very clear that we are not doing anything to the tax system in this period of Government that remains. It will be up to each individual party running into the election to be clear about their tax policy. That applies to all parties in Parliament.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000085\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002226a9f62be51340fbbe3cdd070fcff450\u0022\u003EHon James Shaw\u003C/span\u003E: Has he seen any information about the increased cost of National\u2019s JobStart package if that was layered on top of the existing $11 billion that\u2019s gone into the wage subsidy, and what that would do for tax rates in the future?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000086\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022838c888b65b54f3889b814da0a3c2636\u0022\u003EHon GRANT ROBERTSON\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019ve seen a range of ideas being brought up from political parties, including spending about another $9 billion of the $20 billion that\u2019s remaining. I don\u2019t think all of the parties in Parliament have added up all of the promises that they\u2019re making, but I\u2019m sure someone will do that for them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000087\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002253f86481-33c1-48b2-893b-c11cc0bd673d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002265a48d0c33cb4a75bbe10fa54a53c918\u0022\u003EHon Paul Goldsmith\u003C/span\u003E: Will he rule out the re-imposition of death duties?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ac3d424f3c5b496fb9e7b2d46f2365ed\u0022\u003EHon GRANT ROBERTSON\u003C/span\u003E: That is definitely not on the coalition Government\u2019s agenda.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000089\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u002247f91be1c77641f7a58db006dc751bf2\u0022\u003EQuestion No. 5\u2014Finance\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002212d74f81-b1f7-4b51-9fb4-8f9481477192\u0022 data-id=\u00226017c3273e6841339c8e190af6db940a\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000090\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002212d74f81-b1f7-4b51-9fb4-8f9481477192\u0022\u003E5. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00226017c3273e6841339c8e190af6db940a\u0022\u003EDr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour\u2014New Lynn)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he seen on the New Zealand economy?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022 data-id=\u002264b59196ee5c4847bd1f601c70f2ee24\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000091\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002264b59196ee5c4847bd1f601c70f2ee24\u0022\u003EHon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance):\u003C/span\u003E Last week, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) released its latest quarterly predictions for the June quarter. While the NZIER acknowledged the difficulty in forecasting under the current uncertain circumstances, its forecasts do see a decline in activity concentrated in the June 2020 quarter, largely reflecting the conditions of alert level 4 that occurred during that quarter. However, NZIER did forecast unemployment to peak at 8.1 percent\u2014below Treasury forecasts and far better than a number of other countries. It also said, \u201CGiven the relatively short amount of time spent in lockdown reflecting our success in eliminating COVID-19, the New Zealand economy looks increasingly likely to be at the optimistic end of the scenarios that had initially been considered \u2026 With New Zealand moving down the alert levels, more businesses are reopening and offering a [wide] range of goods and services.\u201D As we move through level 2, we can expect to see further gains from our early success in getting COVID-19 under control.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000092\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002212d74f81-b1f7-4b51-9fb4-8f9481477192\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e903a26e1cab436581a16dea70decad1\u0022\u003EDr Deborah Russell\u003C/span\u003E: What reports has he seen on recent activity in the New Zealand economy?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000093\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022340c6c7a3d52431ea4210c96de30fc64\u0022\u003EHon GRANT ROBERTSON\u003C/span\u003E: We are already seeing a significant lift in economic activity from moving from alert levels 3 and 2. A report out on Friday citing analysis by AirDNA showed a 565 percent increase in short-term rental bookings in New Zealand, which is higher than almost any other country in the world. Friday\u2019s weekly economic update from Treasury also shows improvements in economic activity. Heavy traffic movement is now only 5 percent below its normal levels, while electricity demand is now above pre-COVID levels, and electronic card spending during level 2 has been nearly equal to pre-COVID levels. This lift in activity is thanks to all New Zealanders supporting the Government\u2019s strategy of going hard and going early. Cabinet is fortunate to be in a position to now be considering a move to alert level 1 on 8 June.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000094\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002212d74f81-b1f7-4b51-9fb4-8f9481477192\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002229f53162a1b14f72985cc16e3f571ba3\u0022\u003EDr Deborah Russell\u003C/span\u003E: What reports has he seen on the economic impact of moving through the alert level framework?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000095\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002239e4e544bcb54fd383805e653bbb9589\u0022\u003EHon GRANT ROBERTSON\u003C/span\u003E: The Reserve Bank forecast that GDP would go from being 19 percent below normal under level 3 to 8.8 percent below normal under level 2\u2014an improvement of 10 percentage points. In comparison, a move to level 1 adds 5 percentage points, so half the value of a move from level 3 to level 2. While a move to level 1 would further free up activity, this research from the Reserve Bank shows just how significant the move from level 3 to level 2 was in terms of opening up the economy. The good news is that the vast bulk of the economy is now able to be back up and running at level 2, and a further step down to level 1 is primarily focused on increasing gathering size and reducing social distance requirements, which will add additional economic capacity.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000096\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022432b1c310dc142c9baa05f3d99549602\u0022\u003EQuestion No. 6\u2014Economic Development\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022 data-id=\u002277f72d3d6188439c8a18e3077a5c2273\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000097\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E6. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002277f72d3d6188439c8a18e3077a5c2273\u0022\u003EHon JUDITH COLLINS (National\u2014Papakura)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister for Economic Development: What special powers, if any, did Cabinet grant him that enabled him to allow 56 film workers from Los Angeles into New Zealand?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cbc37df2-57ae-4536-94ed-a2e39eecd585\u0022 data-id=\u00223f503ac9862e4c80b99716cf980020b2\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000098\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbc37df2-57ae-4536-94ed-a2e39eecd585\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00223f503ac9862e4c80b99716cf980020b2\u0022\u003EHon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister for Economic Development):\u003C/span\u003E Cabinet agreed to border restrictions on 19 March preventing all entry into New Zealand, with some specific exemptions. Those exemptions included essential workers as agreed on a case-by-case basis by the COVID Cabinet Committee. Then, as an interim measure, on 21\u00A0April, Ministers with power to act on COVID-19 matters delegated further decision-making for agreeing workers as essential workers for the purpose of exemptions to border restrictions to the Minister for Economic Development and the relevant portfolio Minister for each specific application.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000099\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222b02681dd8804da1ac38184421e65e6e\u0022\u003EHon Judith Collins\u003C/span\u003E: How many times has he exercised his powers to grant border exemptions on economic grounds?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000100\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbc37df2-57ae-4536-94ed-a2e39eecd585\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022062c71af047e4c9b9c835cfbbd57b6c2\u0022\u003EHon PHIL TWYFORD\u003C/span\u003E: I have now signed off 28 applications, representing 201 other essential workers.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000101\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002253134c5bd20b47abbe31e3f0f4714987\u0022\u003EHon Judith Collins\u003C/span\u003E: When he is granting border exemptions to allow people to come into New Zealand, what isolation and physical distancing is he requiring to be in place?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000102\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbc37df2-57ae-4536-94ed-a2e39eecd585\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229045b664b6504b988750e9674acfeb45\u0022\u003EHon PHIL TWYFORD\u003C/span\u003E: All of the people who come into the country through the exemptions policy are required to undergo a two-week supervised isolation or quarantine. I should say that 2,354 border exemptions have been granted to date; 1,906 of these have been for families or on humanitarian grounds\u2014so the ones that are coming in as essential workers are less than 10 percent of that total.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000103\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022aea9747629f54470b1bb51549d88da8a\u0022\u003EHon Judith Collins\u003C/span\u003E: What does he say, then, to the worried guests of the QT Museum Hotel who were, reportedly, exposed to a group of Avatar workers in the hotel reception who were not practising physical or social distancing despite having just arrived from the country with the world\u2019s highest number of active COVID-19 cases?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000104\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbc37df2-57ae-4536-94ed-a2e39eecd585\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ead7bf060ade41e383c45a3f0cf4ff5b\u0022\u003EHon PHIL TWYFORD\u003C/span\u003E: Well, I guess the first point to make is that people coming into the country through the border exemptions regime are not screened on the basis of what country they\u2019re coming from, but all of them are required to undergo two weeks of enforced quarantine, supervised by officials from the Ministry of Health. Everybody coming into the country is informed and instructed that they have to comply with all of the public health guidelines, including physical distancing. Ministry of Health personnel are responsible for overseeing the quarantine arrangements when people come into the country under these exemptions, and I would expect that they would be informing those people that they are required to comply.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000105\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002285ec30d4-6394-433a-a12e-2c4def705dd0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022df0aabaee27546039d1bad6c364b5a32\u0022\u003EHon Judith Collins\u003C/span\u003E: Then how can this supervision have been undertaken if there was a group of Avatar workers in the hotel reception at the QT Museum Hotel who were not practising social distancing but were actually mingling around guests?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000106\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cbc37df2-57ae-4536-94ed-a2e39eecd585\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a220000005494fb99185362c0ef74448\u0022\u003EHon PHIL TWYFORD\u003C/span\u003E: If the member has got a specific case that she wants to take up, I would suggest that she takes it up with the Minister of Health, who is responsible for quarantine arrangements for anybody entering New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000107\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022df5fc69a80fc43918e9429f5edb17fb8\u0022\u003EQuestion No. 7\u2014Customs\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022 data-id=\u0022bd487b73a1eb4ab9af52f442f5fa2b17\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000108\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E7. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022bd487b73a1eb4ab9af52f442f5fa2b17\u0022\u003EHon Dr NICK SMITH (National\u2014Nelson)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Customs: Does she stand by all her Government\u2019s customs policies and actions?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022d14b1afe-2069-41e4-96fa-c8dc81a991a4\u0022 data-id=\u00225fbba74b48024f3db942c16c289677bb\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000109\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d14b1afe-2069-41e4-96fa-c8dc81a991a4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00225fbba74b48024f3db942c16c289677bb\u0022\u003EHon JENNY SALESA (Minister of Customs):\u003C/span\u003E Yes. I especially stand by Customs\u2019 policies and actions that have led to a decisive response to COVID-19 at our border, including the handling of passengers entering New Zealand while enabling the movement of freight in and out of New Zealand. I also stand by the policies and actions that continue to protect New Zealanders from other forms of harm, including a record bust of three tonnes of drugs in 2019, and the additional funds that have been invested in the Customs Service to tackle illegal drugs and objectionable material coming across the border. I especially stand by the brave men and women of our New Zealand Customs Service, who\u2019ve worked tirelessly to keep our country safe.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000110\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022afca0e679bb44481aa36e8c9385f803d\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Why is Customs refusing entry to New Zealand for vessels coming here for marine engineering work, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars of work and a loss of significant jobs, when the COVID-19 risks from crew are negligible and easily managed?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000111\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d14b1afe-2069-41e4-96fa-c8dc81a991a4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225618f6a42bf54479abb282fa7d7c9963\u0022\u003EHon JENNY SALESA\u003C/span\u003E: The decision about which kinds of craft are allowed in, whether they\u2019re marine or whether they\u2019re cruise ships, is, basically, focused on our actions to deal with COVID-19. And so one of the reasons why our Government actually had alert level 4, and the fact that we closed our border, is, basically, because our first and foremost priority is to protect New Zealand people\u2019s lives. We take that advice from the Director-General of Health and from the Ministry of Health, and, basically, in terms of lifting or changing that particular policy, it\u2019ll be a decision by Cabinet.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000112\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224559338403494338adc09461130189d1\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Does she stand by Customs\u2019 decision to refuse entry of the large fishing vessel the Capt. Vincent Gann for urgent engineering work in Nelson, when it has come from American Samoa\u2014where there have been zero cases, and they closed their border prior to us\u2014when the crew have been at sea for weeks, and when the crew can be tested and quarantined when they arrive in New Zealand?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000113\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d14b1afe-2069-41e4-96fa-c8dc81a991a4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002258f77c57a2fb4e8abde3b71791a34920\u0022\u003EHon JENNY SALESA\u003C/span\u003E: I stand by our Government\u2019s record: the fact that we only have one current active case of COVID-19; the fact that we almost have eliminated COVID-19. Cabinet makes these decisions based on the Director-General of Health and the Ministry of Health. I stand by our Government\u2019s record on COVID-19. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000114\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bfb9c1b535894d5ca56584fb4b9036c5\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Does she agree with the advice given by her officials to New Zealand marine engineering companies that these fishing vessels in the Pacific that are normally maintained in Nelson should go to Hawaii or other ports for repairs? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000115\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d14b1afe-2069-41e4-96fa-c8dc81a991a4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fe7844dcb32a4b51aa2bc677fefe0e14\u0022\u003EHon JENNY SALESA\u003C/span\u003E: I reiterate my response. I stand by our Government\u2019s decision to ensure that our borders are safe, and until the Director-General of Health and the Ministry of Health gives us other advice in Cabinet, I stand by our Government\u2019s advice on this.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000116\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225e57eb349c8b4de4b41615516e1ef1fe\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Why is the Government making an exemption to the closed borders for foreign film workers but not for blue collar workers in the marine engineering industry? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000117\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d14b1afe-2069-41e4-96fa-c8dc81a991a4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c96909b29b3646ac8db132311d1ed9ca\u0022\u003EHon JENNY SALESA\u003C/span\u003E: In terms of exemptions, the member might want to reflect on who that particular question should go to. Those exemptions are given by the Minister for Economic Development. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000118\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022666160a9b0e34d2ebcb46534bef01f34\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Does she accept responsibility for the unnecessary loss of jobs in the marine industry in places like Nelson, given the Government\u2019s refusal to provide exemptions for that important New Zealand industry?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000119\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022d14b1afe-2069-41e4-96fa-c8dc81a991a4\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022227d867071c849bf8a2363de06025182\u0022\u003EHon JENNY SALESA\u003C/span\u003E: Again, I reiterate my response. I stand by our Government\u2019s response to COVID-19. We have been really successful at addressing COVID-19, and in terms of opening up the border, that will be a decision that will be made by Cabinet, not by me as Minister of Customs on my own.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000120\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dc990ce425fe4ec98be6cfa4f0f02fa9\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: I seek leave of the House to table the relevant correspondence over the last three weeks to try and get access for these vessels to New Zealand that has resulted in significant job losses in my Nelson electorate. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000121\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228a064a17e4304ed88f3929dedc560770\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Is there any objection to those documents being tabled? There appears to be none. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000122\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003EDocuments, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000123\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00226be151d1faf54c8bbe0e8e57e32604de\u0022\u003EQuestion No. 8\u2014Housing\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022217f4585-f6ef-408d-9318-8a6b8506920b\u0022 data-id=\u00226adc89824c3548b4863446fe732ceeac\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000124\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022217f4585-f6ef-408d-9318-8a6b8506920b\u0022\u003E8. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00226adc89824c3548b4863446fe732ceeac\u0022\u003EPAUL EAGLE (Labour\u2014Rongotai)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Housing: What is the Government doing to boost the delivery of new public and transitional homes, and why is this important as New Zealand emerges from the COVID-19 crisis? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022 data-id=\u0022572c4a22c96d4d3fbd6db27ee3c23840\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000125\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022572c4a22c96d4d3fbd6db27ee3c23840\u0022\u003EHon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing):\u003C/span\u003E In Budget 2020, the Government announced funding for 8,000 new public and transitional homes. This is a significant boost to the Government\u2019s existing public housing build programme of 6,400 homes announced in Budget 2018. K\u0101inga Ora will finance its proportion of the additional 8,000 homes by increasing its borrowing by approximately $5 billion. This major investment is an important signal to the residential construction sector that the Government is ramping up its commitment to public housing, and the economic impact of the $5 billion investment in the residential construction market will be significant. Not only does this mean that 8,000 more families will have warm, dry homes to live in but it also means we\u2019ll be supporting thousands of jobs in the trades and wider construction sector to deliver these houses. With these latest announcements, that brings the number of homes to 18,350, either delivered by our Government or in the Government\u2019s public housing build pipeline\u2014the most we\u2019ve seen in decades. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000126\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022217f4585-f6ef-408d-9318-8a6b8506920b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022009b3471a6664553873b1d5b8df7afd0\u0022\u003EPaul Eagle\u003C/span\u003E: What progress is the Government making on its commitment to build 6,400 public homes announced in Budget 2018? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000127\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229290f790021c4ccfb55b0b52035914d4\u0022\u003EHon Dr MEGAN WOODS\u003C/span\u003E: As at the end of March 2020, 3,749 public housing places, or 59 percent, have been delivered against the target of 6,400 new public housing places by June 2022. In addition to funding for the latest 8,000 houses, Budget 2020 also included $100 million of funding to deliver 1,650 extra places that have been delivered ahead of schedule over the last 2\u00BD years. This is great news, and demonstrates our Government\u2019s absolute commitment to building more public houses. I\u2019m proud of our record to date and our plan for the future, after a decade of the previous Government doing little more than selling off State houses. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000128\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022acd3ab09b68b41cf999717b274e91d2d\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: Just to confirm, Minister: does that mean that flogging off State houses everywhere and running down the Housing New Zealand stock has well and truly been stopped? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000129\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002226186a2102ed4fdc9512ad6f9b2e8993\u0022\u003EHon Dr MEGAN WOODS\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, it does, but, unfortunately, we are left with a legacy of a waiting list of around 15,000 people. But we are a Government with a plan to address that shortfall. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000130\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022217f4585-f6ef-408d-9318-8a6b8506920b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dac374d04ec6420998970a9e909fcec1\u0022\u003EPaul Eagle\u003C/span\u003E: What is the delivery time line for the additional 8,000 new houses, and where will they be located? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000131\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022acda7f05661743b3846f9088f53275ab\u0022\u003EHon Dr MEGAN WOODS\u003C/span\u003E: The 8,000 houses will be delivered over the next four to five years. Approximately 6,000 of these will be delivered in the two years following the completion of the existing 6,400 houses in the delivery pipeline. The other 2,000 houses will be delivered as transitional housing places over the next two years to enable the Government to reduce reliance on the use of motels as an emergency measure. In terms of where these houses will be located, that will be determined as part of the public housing plan. I have asked officials to bring this work forward as a matter of priority, and I expect it will be available in the coming months. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000132\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u0022d6d2a9103a5c4125870f94d1b3206aa5\u0022\u003EQuestion No. 9\u2014Tourism\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c0f78f60-c2fd-46f4-8138-72f39692fc20\u0022 data-id=\u0022417bc9e0364e48e9a437202506f4c66c\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000133\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c0f78f60-c2fd-46f4-8138-72f39692fc20\u0022\u003E9. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022417bc9e0364e48e9a437202506f4c66c\u0022\u003EHon TODD McCLAY (National\u2014Rotorua)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Tourism: What advice has he received on the number of Australians who visited New Zealand for the purposes of a holiday or visiting family during the Australian winter school holidays in 2019?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022 data-id=\u00227215ca6d1cf84a928d56774df631e316\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000134\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00227215ca6d1cf84a928d56774df631e316\u0022\u003EHon KELVIN DAVIS (Minister of Tourism):\u003C/span\u003E During the Australian winter school holidays in 2019, 55,538 Australians came to New Zealand for a holiday; while 38,345 came at the same time to visit friends and family.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000135\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c0f78f60-c2fd-46f4-8138-72f39692fc20\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227ea7784f57cb427fb88df2743e00d434\u0022\u003EHon Todd McClay\u003C/span\u003E: What was the total amount spent by Australian visitors to New Zealand in the 2019 Australian winter school holidays?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000136\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002207e1e52337b44fbf9d71bb7bab2397d5\u0022\u003EHon KELVIN DAVIS\u003C/span\u003E: I don\u2019t have those figures at hand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000137\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c0f78f60-c2fd-46f4-8138-72f39692fc20\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002259e1447333d3409fbcf9c9c55c863685\u0022\u003EHon Todd McClay\u003C/span\u003E: How many jobs were dependent on the amount spent by Australian visitors to New Zealand during the Australian winter school holidays in 2019?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000138\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002268b7f9cde14048908d4a7ff1e280bfa3\u0022\u003EHon KELVIN DAVIS\u003C/span\u003E: We know that some 400,000 New Zealanders are either directly or indirectly employed in tourism-related work.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000139\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c0f78f60-c2fd-46f4-8138-72f39692fc20\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226a04b327de9b451fa0372f6b2f44f77a\u0022\u003EHon Todd McClay\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I didn\u2019t ask how many were employed in tourism.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000140\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f807861b814e4746b3579f19dd12bc70\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: No, the member asked a question which was marginal as to its flow from the previous question. I allowed the question and it was addressed.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000141\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c0f78f60-c2fd-46f4-8138-72f39692fc20\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002282f71b37ec894f79a80a74ff33b1383a\u0022\u003EHon Todd McClay\u003C/span\u003E: Has he received any advice at all on the economic importance of the Australian winter school holidays to the New Zealand tourism industry and the families and communities who rely on it?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000142\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002262db1be3bfbf40a9b68799b92c5e64f7\u0022\u003EHon KELVIN DAVIS\u003C/span\u003E: We know that any holidays are important to the tourism industry, including the Australian school holidays. But, of course, I have no say over what the Australians do in their school holidays.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000143\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022235feead84264e80adbaf1bc84442d4a\u0022\u003EHon Chris Hipkins\u003C/span\u003E: Can he confirm that while New Zealand is currently in a reasonably long stretch of having no new COVID cases, Australia still continues to report up to double-digit new COVID-19 cases each day?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000144\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b64cb1a701254bfb82d7a730c70ac42a\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Order! The member could have phrased it so that the member could have answered it, but he didn\u2019t.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000145\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c0f78f60-c2fd-46f4-8138-72f39692fc20\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ababe6ae55ee4a28a535d00ba6a77d82\u0022\u003EHon Todd McClay\u003C/span\u003E: What will be the economic consequence, and how many jobs will be lost, if the trans-Tasman border remains closed during the Australian winter school holiday season this year?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000146\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ac7f07eb66304ebcaa7e8d546b336134\u0022\u003EHon KELVIN DAVIS\u003C/span\u003E: A couple of things. First of all, a trans-Tasman bubble is something we would all like to see, but it depends on both countries deciding that it is safe to open the borders. In terms of addressing the question around\u2014I think it was how many jobs we lost\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000147\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c0f78f60-c2fd-46f4-8138-72f39692fc20\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002202344ff18b8e49f7b4f53a52a2de25c1\u0022\u003EHon Todd McClay\u003C/span\u003E: The consequences on jobs, yeah.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000148\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022471cb3a7b9414bafad7ece5b29d7ca59\u0022\u003EHon KELVIN DAVIS\u003C/span\u003E: On the consequences on jobs, we know that this is a global situation. COVID-19 has affected every country. There is no international tourism whatsoever, so the effects on the industry have been devastating. We would like to see\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000149\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022da178d316347437291902575a7a218cb\u0022\u003EHon Grant Robertson\u003C/span\u003E: How would you do it, Todd? Would you just open all the borders up\u2014just open them up, bring them in from anywhere, Todd?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000150\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002217a137e9b74748bda328d30656b47797\u0022\u003EHon KELVIN DAVIS\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014the trans-Tasman bubble open up as quickly as possible, but we must make sure that both countries are sure that it\u2019s safe to do so.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000151\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022762ba6a6a0cf48368723896806810f98\u0022\u003EHon Chris Hipkins\u003C/span\u003E: Supplementary question.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000152\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224d60d87ff7c54fe29370729eb9425e3f\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Before we do that, I\u2019m just going to ask the Minister of Finance: no matter how provocative the interjections that come from the other side, when he interjects\u2014when he replies that loudly while the Minister is speaking, he interferes with the ability of the Minister to be\u2014well, my ability to hear the Minister. I\u2019d like him to stop it. So don\u2019t be provoked.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000153\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022cefaabda71164351b672b199ea3364a9\u0022\u003EHon Chris Hipkins\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019ll have another go, Mr Speaker. What would be the economic consequences to the New Zealand tourism industry of COVID-19 coming across the trans-Tasman border and spreading in New Zealand?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000154\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022802874a3-deca-48b7-9d33-9087058892f5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b53f38a303e64d9b8a11327e55be3957\u0022\u003EHon KELVIN DAVIS\u003C/span\u003E: We have seen the devastation that COVID-19 has caused to the New Zealand economy as we\u2019ve gone up into level 4. The last thing that this country needs is for us to go from level 2 back into level 3 and back into level 4. What we need to do is maintain the course that we\u2019re on, making sure that it is safe on both sides of the Tasman before the trans-Tasman bubble is opened up.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000155\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00220540212bdfa34cc7bcdde8dc30f999ca\u0022\u003EQuestion No. 10\u2014Immigration\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022 data-id=\u0022b4d69649cd1544f6b0cb04895df06111\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000156\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003E10. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022b4d69649cd1544f6b0cb04895df06111\u0022\u003ESTUART SMITH (National\u2014Kaik\u014Dura)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Immigration: Have he or his officials received correspondence regarding visa exemptions for foreign teams in the America\u2019s Cup; if so, when?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022 data-id=\u00226a8aa0c8a2f84a30a3a7a5fafc493a57\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000157\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00226a8aa0c8a2f84a30a3a7a5fafc493a57\u0022\u003EHon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Minister of Immigration):\u003C/span\u003E I am not aware of any correspondence relating to visa exemptions regarding any of the foreign teams in the America\u2019s Cup. None of the syndicates have indicated that they want to be exempted from our usual immigration requirements. However, to be helpful to the member, I can inform the House that I have had regular correspondence with Dean Barker as the head of the American Magic syndicate on the subject of travel to New Zealand for the America\u2019s Cup since he contacted my office on 23 March 2020; this has included a video conference on 25 March 2020 and further correspondence since.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000158\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b93f2e81c15d43158e4dcf2268f9f1df\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: It\u2019s an exemption from the closed border.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000159\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c11014467bd04857a6fb10a90a892aeb\u0022\u003EHon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY\u003C/span\u003E: Immigration New Zealand officials have also been in regular discussions\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000160\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022318785fdfc624093be23941c25d0b5c8\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Order! Order! Some of us think this is quite an important question, Dr Smith, and it\u2019s not helped by your loud interjections, which appear to be coming through your colleague\u2019s mike behind you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000161\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221734f808a0904badb39ad6eec8e62a5a\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Point of order, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000162\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002295cf8fcb92a744beb24825a3bbac294d\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: No. I want to hear the end of the answer. If there\u2019s a point of order then, I\u2019ll take it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000163\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ccec74028cd84666b5824f674b927fff\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Some members get points of order and some don\u2019t?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000164\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fab9b3af9c644156867351c5711c214b\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I think the member is lucky that his colleague\u2019s mike was turned off.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000165\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c441066d85fe43d786328a4fc831215a\u0022\u003EHon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I\u2019ll pick up where I left off, which was to say that Immigration New Zealand officials have also been in regular discussions with the America\u2019s Cup syndicate since July of 2019, and the member will appreciate that the context for those discussions has changed significantly since that time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000166\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002214387bcd45ee48d0962b7679deaf5dfe\u0022\u003EStuart Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Why have some visas for America\u2019s Cup teams not been approved, given Immigration New Zealand provided specific instructions to staff on 18 August 2018 on issuing visas to America\u2019s Cup teams in a timely manner?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000167\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022acf6f7b8b31944bb992908c439f049e1\u0022\u003EHon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY\u003C/span\u003E: Because we have established a process for exemptions from the restrictions that are in place.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000168\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022681722c478b84820becfbacf87ea2066\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, there are now exemptions? So there are exemptions now?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000169\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002245d2b1528f4f458db636b89a6ece686f\u0022\u003EHon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY\u003C/span\u003E: Exemptions from the restrictions that are in place, Dr Smith\u2014listen carefully. And I understand that applications for exemption have been lodged with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and are being processed for consideration by the Minister for Economic Development.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000170\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224ec08ff36751483985a98091e493d505\u0022\u003EStuart Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Does he expect America\u2019s Cup teams to apply for visa exemptions under the \u201Csignificant economic value\u201D category; and, if so, how can they do this given the criteria is unpublished?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000171\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bd3f6c0c17734e1d9a23bc35df3367ff\u0022\u003EHon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY\u003C/span\u003E: As I\u2019ve already explained to the member, there is no way to apply for a visa exemption.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000172\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f744549c2cf24a2e94ef63412edaf279\u0022\u003EStuart Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Why, then, has he not communicated that to the America\u2019s Cup teams?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000173\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223ad59734cfa049cc9523303440c20d8a\u0022\u003EHon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY\u003C/span\u003E: The America\u2019s Cup teams are well aware of the process for seeking an exemption to the border restrictions, and I understand that applications have been lodged and are being processed by MBIE.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000174\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a2e93e611c2a427aba20cd140aab3dae\u0022\u003EStuart Smith\u003C/span\u003E: Is he confident that visas will be granted in time for the first America\u2019s Cup team members to arrive by 15 June in order to adequately prepare for the event?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000175\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022490ccdbf-7c22-4e12-98f2-f3aa08f8e676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e7c4a441378a42fcae550e1b083e5e70\u0022\u003EHon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY\u003C/span\u003E: I am confident that the process that has been put in place and has been discussed with the syndicates will be applied appropriately.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000176\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u002228e3445cee154074bd39cd2d5a1d3fbe\u0022\u003EQuestion No. 11\u2014Education\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00229eef65cd-ce82-441c-af1b-954ea0782a04\u0022 data-id=\u0022cedcc42aa2124c7e8fa4bb344d96eafa\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000177\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00229eef65cd-ce82-441c-af1b-954ea0782a04\u0022\u003E11. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022cedcc42aa2124c7e8fa4bb344d96eafa\u0022\u003EJAN TINETTI (Labour)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Education: What action has the Government taken to ensure that New Zealand\u2019s most vulnerable children will receive a healthy school lunch?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022 data-id=\u0022a874e1f2deb34e7081b90bdfe740449b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000178\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a874e1f2deb34e7081b90bdfe740449b\u0022\u003EHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education):\u003C/span\u003E The Wellbeing Budget of 2020 funds the expansion of the free and healthy school lunch programme to 200,000 New Zealand children. This means that once it\u2019s fully rolled out, one in four schoolchildren in New Zealand will receive a free, healthy school lunch every day. We know that kids with full tummies tend to concentrate better, they\u2019re normally better behaved, and, of course, they learn more. The Government\u2019s model gives flexibility to schools to decide whether or not to deliver the lunches themselves or to outsource to an external supplier. We know that the schools and communities are best placed to understand what their children need.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000179\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00229eef65cd-ce82-441c-af1b-954ea0782a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022147c62be287940c798714f4ed341d48a\u0022\u003EJan Tinetti\u003C/span\u003E: How will the expansion of the free and healthy school lunch programme to one in four New Zealand school students create jobs?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000180\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222379e5422ff04cb79944eeae6defae99\u0022\u003EHon CHRIS HIPKINS\u003C/span\u003E: Based on what we already know from the way the programme is working in the schools that have been taking part so far\u2014either making the lunches themselves or outsourcing to an external supplier\u2014it\u2019s estimated that around 2,000 additional jobs in local communities could be created through the expansion of this programme. Several schools have employed wh\u0101nau to help make and distribute lunches on school sites. In other areas, locals have been employed by locally based suppliers providing lunches. For example, 65 people have been employed in the Bay of Plenty region across 21 schools currently in the programme. As an example, at Murupara Area School, that began serving lunches in late January this year, the school lunches are provided by Manawa Munchies, a business set up specifically for this purpose, and it employs three local people.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000181\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00229eef65cd-ce82-441c-af1b-954ea0782a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228fd5ead7bec44c4db5d1540e83e53d98\u0022\u003EJan Tinetti\u003C/span\u003E: What are the next steps for the expansion of the free and healthy school lunch programme to one in four New Zealand school students?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000182\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226dbe19f759784aa8be86744ab0045f5e\u0022\u003EHon CHRIS HIPKINS\u003C/span\u003E: Detailed planning is under way to support the scaling up of the programme. It continues to be rolled out, and the next group in the South Island will be announced shortly. The phased expansion of the lunches will begin during term 4 this year, reaching a further 50,000 students, and increasing to up to 200,000 students by term 3 in 2021.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000183\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00229eef65cd-ce82-441c-af1b-954ea0782a04\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022430a5d2c0e9e4471ac98b2d28e3eb5d3\u0022\u003EJan Tinetti\u003C/span\u003E: What reports has he seen about the free and healthy school lunch programme for the nearly 8,000 children who currently receive it?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000184\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221dbd2811-8e58-4ffb-848d-31c0eaa9690a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229db8e3f7cb2a4925a4d064892d99f20d\u0022\u003EHon CHRIS HIPKINS\u003C/span\u003E: The principal of Kimi Ora Community School in Flaxmere said that the programme had had a huge impact on kids\u2019 learning and also on kids\u2019 mental wellbeing. Because all students at the primary school receive a lunch, it removed the stigma of poverty; it\u2019s also reduced truancy at their school because families of children used to be embarrassed to send their children to school if they could not provide them with a lunch. Principals from Sunset Primary School and Kaitao Intermediate School in Rotorua have said that they\u2019re seeing higher attendance and better behaviour with their free school lunches. Sunset Primary School is also providing free stationery as a result of the Government\u2019s school donations scheme.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000185\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226007dc96-f459-4cdd-9972-4fde2c994088\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022166709181ffb4ceb94301d84cdfb460a\u0022\u003EHon Grant Robertson\u003C/span\u003E: Excellent.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000186\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229db057f3c84e44c394655bc31c15512a\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, and, as was indicated to me, it\u2019s not always a question of poverty, the question of whether people have lunch, but it does impact on their behaviour. The Minister of Finance didn\u2019t have his lunch\u2014that\u2019s the point that I\u2019m making\u2014and it\u2019s been clear to everyone in the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000187\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u002289b2bd9b60294307868201b93eb6e3b2\u0022\u003EQuestion No. 12\u2014Housing\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022 data-id=\u00228a607e3aa171462ab1a96fbb4fc82ae4\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000188\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003E12. \u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00228a607e3aa171462ab1a96fbb4fc82ae4\u0022\u003ENICOLA WILLIS (National)\u003C/span\u003E to the Minister of Housing: Will she do anything for KiwiBuild buyers caught up in the delayed Monark development, including the couple who wrote to her on Friday stating, \u201CWe want the Government, whose involvement induced us into entering this contract, to own up and enable KiwiBuild purchasers to exit their agreements with no further financial bloodshed\u201D?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022 data-id=\u0022133fdb95769f40698c8a4926fea37053\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000189\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022133fdb95769f40698c8a4926fea37053\u0022\u003EHon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing):\u003C/span\u003E Yes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000190\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222b2c225f34fb4682a5243eb4cbfacd15\u0022\u003ENicola Willis\u003C/span\u003E: What will she do for those buyers and will she ensure they can get their full deposits back, or does she think it\u2019s fair they face a $5,000 penalty?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000191\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002230644efa88764121ae156b1c3128b5ff\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. That member\u2019s been here long enough. You can\u2019t ask three supplementary questions.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000192\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227e742f048475497ba84764e8c4d7a588\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Can\u2019t ask what?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000193\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223d49aeac-8adf-497b-9400-ab7bb077bb8d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228e2d0cf6040e4f9c85b974d7aff487f0\u0022\u003ERt Hon Winston Peters\u003C/span\u003E: You can\u2019t ask three supplementary questions all at once.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000194\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227f1b6b6352a141e29745edff2333dded\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Well, I\u2019m going to get the member to start again, and I\u2019ll focus.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000195\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d31282466cb64f8480f7454e8a4e34ed\u0022\u003ENicola Willis\u003C/span\u003E: What will the Minister do for those buyers, and will she ensure they can get their full deposits back?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000196\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002246e2ca02261e478c9f35766c4682cf90\u0022\u003EHon Dr MEGAN WOODS\u003C/span\u003E: Addressing the first part of that question, I understand the developer will be communicating with KiwiBuild Monark purchasers to inform them that they are offering to return the full deposit payable on all KiwiBuild contracts cancelled, and no costs will be recovered. This offer will be open for 10 working days from today. The developer and the Government remain committed to this development, and we are confident there will continue to be demand for these homes. I am also currently working with officials on the steps required to align the occupancy requirements on the Monark two- and three-bedroom homes, with the one-year requirement on studio and one-bedroom homes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000197\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223932f8dab53249eca3e6808a83518638\u0022\u003ENicola Willis\u003C/span\u003E: Why did the Government market homes in the Monark development before a construction contract had been confirmed, and will she apologise to KiwiBuild buyers caught up in the resulting delays?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000198\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221bcf031ae1d041168dd017b9830397cb\u0022\u003EHon Dr MEGAN WOODS\u003C/span\u003E: As I explained to that member last week, this is a type of contract that is no longer entered into by KiwiBuild. It has not been a type of contract that is entered into since December of last year. Selling off the plans is a normal part of property development, but we recognise that doing so prior to there being a contracting agreement does not sit well with Kiwi buyers. I think what that member does need to understand, however, is that selling off the plans is going to be an incredibly important part as we get through the post-COVID recovery in construction, and I look forward to hearing some constructive plans from that member on what she\u2019s going to do.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000199\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228e559e81c9414450b1ac505e0028abb6\u0022\u003ENicola Willis\u003C/span\u003E: Will she apologise to distressed KiwiBuild buyers caught up in the Monark development?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000200\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002274b8727b2c08489081171d792f76c2d7\u0022\u003EHon Dr MEGAN WOODS\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019ve not only offered my sympathy and apologies but we changed the policy in December, and I\u2019ve fixed the situation for these people that want to get out of it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000201\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000202\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u002209c69e345cdb404682c5d5b515812504\u0022\u003EUrgent Debates Declined\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000203\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u002255c449053a9a458196856c0e497bba1d\u0022\u003ECOVID-19 Outbreak\u2014Alert Levels, Social Gatherings Rules Breach\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022 data-id=\u00221e8e1cde4c96462794a462d982b38d8b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000204\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002279db8b64-1f9b-4416-9b81-a12963db9cbf\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221e8e1cde4c96462794a462d982b38d8b\u0022\u003ESPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I have received a letter from David Seymour seeking to debate under Standing Order 389 the breach of alert level 2 rules on social gatherings at yesterday\u2019s protest in Aotea Square in Auckland. For there to be an urgent debate there must be administrative or ministerial responsibility for the case of recent occurrence. The concept of ministerial responsibility for a matter qualifying for an urgent debate is narrower than it is in respect of questions for oral answer, which encompass any matter relating to public affairs with which the Minister has an official connection. An urgent debate is a way of holding the Government accountable for an action for which it is responsible. There must be distinct governmental responsibility for the particular case which is sought to be debated\u2014Speaker\u2019s rulings 191/3. There is no governmental responsibility for the protest in Aotea Square yesterday. Therefore, the application is declined.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000205\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00222a20a0bc293f490e9814706fc9516a7b\u0022\u003EBudget Debate\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022\u003EBills\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000206\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00224bece451f03f4ab6acd5e7455ba866fb\u0022\u003EAppropriation (2020/21 Estimates) Bill\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000207\u0022\u003EDebate resumed from 27 May on the .\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022 data-id=\u00222639c969cf924fe6b3476e397e300ba7\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000208\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00222639c969cf924fe6b3476e397e300ba7\u0022\u003EHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development):\u003C/span\u003E This year\u2019s Budget comes during an unprecedented time\u2014and I know we have heard that word over and over again over the last few months\u2014with a global health crisis that, clearly, has economic implications globally as well. Fortunately, we have built up our nation\u2019s resilience by getting the books into surplus, achieving the lowest unemployment rate in a decade, and investing in our public services and our people\u2019s wellbeing over the past three years. We are now seeing the benefit of careful fiscal planning and management. We are winning the battle with our health response to COVID-19, but the war\u2019s not over. Now we\u2019re focusing on our economic response, and keeping jobs, new jobs, and training for jobs is very much our focus. Our response has given us the chance to get our economy moving faster than many other countries. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000209\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EBudget 2020 also continues the Government\u2019s careful and balanced approach to running the books, with a focus on the economy, yes, but also the wellbeing of New Zealanders. I have the privilege of being the Minister for Social Development, and can I say that our Budget is a response to COVID-19, but actions were put in place before the Budget was introduced. Those actions really sit as a backdrop to what was to follow with respect to the Budget in 2020. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000210\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EWe did, at the Budget, see the introduction of an income relief payment to provide a cushion for people experiencing job loss due to the impacts of COVID-19. It is not the first time that we have had job loss cover of this nature. As referenced many times in this House during last week\u2019s debate, following the Canterbury earthquakes there was also a very similar scheme of job loss cover put in place, and following the global financial crisis we also saw a restart package. With respect to our COVID income relief payment, obviously the point of difference is that it is nationwide and it is at a much larger scale.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000211\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EThis will come into effect as many companies will be easing out of the wage subsidy or finishing up with the wage subsidy\u2014apart from those who are able to get an extension to the wage subsidy. The wage subsidy was put in place to try and keep people connected to their place of employment, to support businesses with what is one of their biggest overheads\u2014that being staff wages\u2014and to support with saving jobs and providing people with a livelihood during that very uncertain period. And it has worked, but it was never going to protect us entirely from job losses, which is why we have put the COVID-19 income relief payment into place.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000212\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003ENot only did we see the wage subsidy put in place, followed by the COVID-19 income relief payment, but what we saw as an initial action, right at the beginning of our experience when COVID-19 really started to hit us, was measures put in place to support the most vulnerable\u2014those experiencing hardship in New Zealand already. That came in the form of benefit increases of $25 per week and also the doubling of the winter energy payment. The feedback that I have received from those out and about, particularly superannuitants, on the impact that the doubling of the winter energy payment will make for them this year is that it is massive.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000213\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003ECan I say too that alongside the income support measures that we\u2019ve put in place, we\u2019ve never shied away from the fact that we also need to be putting a focus on the expansion of employment services and our support for New Zealanders who lose work at this time. In fact, we saw at the Budget an additional investment of $150 million to support with employment contracted services so that we can assist New Zealanders to redeploy, where they are able, into employment. Alongside that, in other portfolios we saw an investment in training opportunities, and can I make particular reference to the $1.6 billion that is being invested into apprenticeships.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000214\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EI get asked often about the Welfare Expert Advisory Group\u2019s report and our response to it. Quite often, people\u2019s perception of what is recommended in that report is limited only to benefit increases, and, although we absolutely understand the importance of income adequacy\u2014and that was part of the terms of reference\u2014I can, hand on heart, say that we have increased benefits but that there is more to it. In fact, the expansion of employment services and ensuring that we are providing employment services that serve a broader group of New Zealanders\u2014potentially not just those that have found themselves on benefit but those that may be at risk of being displaced from their work and those who may be looking for other options\u2014was also part of the recommendation of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000215\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EThere has been some criticism over the temporary income relief payment, and we as a Government have been very clear that it is temporary. However, we\u2019ve also signalled that we will be exploring a redundancy payment or social insurance of that type, and, in fact, that was something that was asked of us by not only Business New Zealand but the Council of Trade Unions. In fact, referring back to the Welfare Expert Advisory Group\u2019s report, that was actually what was in recommendation 37: that we as a country should be exploring a redundancy payment of that nature. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000216\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EWhat became very clear, alongside income support and also support for employment and upskilling and training, was the absolute essential nature of our social services during this period. That is why, during the COVID period prior to the Budget, we did invest an additional $27 million to support Ministry of Social Development social services or contracted social services to be able to meet the demand during this time. It doesn\u2019t end there. For many of these organisations that are contracted by the Ministry of Social Development, often who also have contracts with other Government agencies, they have not seen an increase in funding for a number of years, despite, in many instances, the demand on their services going up. So we saw a significant increase in funding for our social services at our 2020 Budget. Can I say that I think that that was long overdue. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000217\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EIf I just cite one of the contracts or nationwide services that benefited from that increase in funding, that would be the Building Financial Capability services\u2014so our budgeting services. There are around 131 budgeting services across the country. They are local people serving their local communities. What we saw at the Budget was not only a baseline increase of 20 percent\u2014which saw an increase of $9.7 million, off the top of my head\u2014but also a recognition of the fact that during this period, when New Zealanders are more likely to be experiencing either job loss or reduction in income, there may be more New Zealanders seeking the support of their local budgeting services. So on top of the 20 percent increase, we also increased funding to reflect the COVID-19 demand, with an additional $25 million over the next two years to support those budgeting services to be able to deliver their very, very crucial services at this time. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000218\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EThat was just one example of where social services had increases in funding. We also saw it again with our family violence and sexual violence services. Can I say, one of the things that I\u2019m proudest of on this side of the House is that we have seen increases to that sector year on year since we have been in Government. The sector was underfunded for too long, and it was a reflection of the fact that the previous Government did not take it seriously enough and did not invest in areas that should be a priority for any Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000219\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022c3a88c42-f60b-4cf9-8065-8bfb80a020eb\u0022\u003EI\u2019m very proud of what is in this Budget. It all is a very different Budget and a very different Budget process from previous years. But, collectively, as Ministers and as a Government, across the three parties, we were able to determine what were priorities for us as a country. Getting the economy back on the road but with a focus, of course, still on our health is our absolute priority, and that is why, not only with the Ministry of Social Development but with a range of other ministries, there is a focus on jobs, upskilling, training, and further educational opportunities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022 data-id=\u00226252a33a233c44c0b8800557472cfa41\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000220\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00226252a33a233c44c0b8800557472cfa41\u0022\u003EJONATHAN YOUNG (National\u2014New Plymouth):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the Budget 2020 as presented to this House. Indeed, as the previous speaker alluded, it is a Budget like no other. At the beginning of my speech, I would like to acknowledge the Minister of Finance, who presented a Budget he probably had no idea he would be presenting months earlier, or envisaging spending as much money as is going out the front door right now. These are remarkable times, so credit to him. He has not only managed the Crown\u2019s finances in a time of crisis to be able to roll out these support schemes to help New Zealand employees in particular\u2014which I suspect is more an administrative miracle that he\u2019s achieved than a fiscal one\u2014but he has also presented this Budget on due date.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000221\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EI think that as we give credit where it\u2019s due, the Government should also give credit where it\u2019s due. We know the Prime Minister often chides us on the Opposition benches that prior to COVID-19 lockdown, the Crown\u2019s books were in better shape than when they inherited them. Suffice to say that having a lower debt to GDP may not, in fact, be due to the Government\u2019s success in lowering debt but maybe businesses\u2019 success in raising GDP. I think that one thing that we say from this side of the House is that we wish the Government had worked and come out sooner and harder in supporting businesses, because I think that many of the mechanisms which they say are supporting businesses are, in fact, failing to do that which they think and which they say is occurring. Why is it today\u2014why is it today\u2014that we still hear businesses saying, \u201CWe\u2019re going to the wall?\u201D It\u2019s because those mechanisms which the Government has designed have not been fully tried and tested and doing the work they think that they are achieving.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000222\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EGiving credit where it\u2019s due may not only be given to businesses because of the incredible work that\u2019s happened in our economy over these last number of years\u2014and an example of that is what Stats New Zealand say has been record export volumes and prices for our red meat sector\u2014but also because this Government inherited the very solid and sound financial management of their predecessors, and I mention John Key, Bill English, and Steven Joyce, as they led us through the Canterbury earthquake and the global financial crisis. Of course, these gentlemen and ladies across the way like to get the credit but do not like to give it back, and I think credit where it\u2019s due, and I think that we need to acknowledge that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000223\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EBut I think that it\u2019s not just a matter of bouquets; I think it\u2019s also a matter of brickbats as we look here at Budget 2020. Yes, all credit that it came under a great trial of fire, and credit that support went out in those early days and continues to go out, but as my colleague the Hon Paul Goldsmith so clearly pointed out, prior to COVID-19 things were actually going backwards. The economic growth had halved, in times when we were getting those record prices from export commodities offshore. You just only have to read what Stats New Zealand said on 2 March this year\u2014particularly, as I talked about, that beef and lamb trade rose to their highest level ever in the December 2019 quarter, and they boosted overall export prices right across the country. Volumes increased by 3.2 percent, values rose by 12 percent in the December 2019 quarter, yet we still see an economy under pressure, and people have wondered why this is. It just took two years for this Government to turn a solid surplus into a deficit.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000224\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EThen we had COVID-19 come along, and COVID-19 has certainly dealt a massive blow\u2014a massive blow\u2014to the New Zealand economy. The Government are keen for New Zealanders to keep supporting their cheque account in order to continue to support this country. I think we have a confused economic landscape, and I would say that when spending is best described as throwing everything including the kitchen sink, we need to be cognisant of the fact that rainy days are here and rainy days will still come, and we need to make sure that we have got a kitchen sink for future rainy days.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000225\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003ESo I would think that ensuring that our businesses are strong as they come through this\u2014we all know that employees need an employer, that we would have companies and businesses who have more than staff-only costs: they have overheads, they have all sorts of other finance costs, and yet it\u2019s been very difficult for many of them to receive the support they need to be able to get through. On the other side of it, we want all of these people who have received wage subsidy support and all of the people who have lost their jobs to be able to come through this and find employment again in the future. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000226\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EMr Alan McDonald, from the Employers and Manufacturers Association, head of advocacy, and I quote him, said his organisation has been calling for the past week for a return to level 1 more quickly than the Government has indicated. I think that what this is is businesses\u2014it is businesses themselves\u2014feeling the pain, knowing what the solution is. Credit to the health outcomes that have been achieved, but there needs to be a swift response. He went on to say, \u201CEvery day we are under these restrictions, more businesses are going to the wall and more people are made redundant.\u201D So this Budget is a recovery Budget, but I just hope that they don\u2019t leave the expenditure that is needed for this recovery to take place until it\u2019s too late. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000227\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EI applaud the recovery package for the arts sector that was just released. In fact, it was released very, I guess, spasmodically, in an episode type of way. We received, of course, funding provisions on the day of the Budget. Then the Prime Minister, in Te Papa last week, talked about other elements and mechanisms, and then, in Napier on Friday, further mechanisms which the Government will employ to support the arts sector. It\u2019s interesting, the arts sector. Of course, many of them are people in the creative industry who can\u2019t have work, who are the last to get back into work, because many of them perform before crowds. Going to an event when you have high production costs when you can only have 100 people there just doesn\u2019t make it work.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000228\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s like, you know, you go to a cafe in town: the doors are open, but nobody\u2019s making money. In fact, many of them say, \u201CWe either make a decision to lose money slowly or to lose money quickly, and if we open our door to business under the current restrictions, we lose money quickly.\u201D Many of them say, \u201CIt\u2019s cheaper for us to not open at all.\u201D So there is this cry for businesses to be heard and to be acknowledged about the pressures they are under and to get the balance right between the health concerns and the economic concerns, and, of course, we understand this Government is quite divided in terms of those views.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000229\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EBut I think that on the Opposition side of the bench, we understand the importance of the health response, and there has been a very good response as \u201CTeam NZ\u201D have put their heart and soul into it. But as I\u2019ve said to our local media, New Zealanders will certainly cooperate and do the very best they can, until they feel it\u2019s been unreasonable, what\u2019s been asked of them. I think what we are sensing and perhaps the Government are sensing\u2014which is why the Prime Minister has indicated today that they are going to look at level 1 next Monday\u2014is that the public are not backing them in this decision and that there is a real cry, particularly from business, to get back into business.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000230\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022cc9c47c0-4409-44ca-ad2f-498707f27d69\u0022\u003EI\u2019ve always felt that the support package to subsidise wages has been reasonable, good, and quick, and it\u2019s been helpful, but I\u2019ve always been disappointed that there has not been a really good awareness and support package that has quickly come to businesses, because on the other side of this\u2014and we will get there, but let\u2019s hope we get there sooner rather than later\u2014we need those businesses to be strong, to be employers, which is why I acknowledge and respect what Todd Muller has been saying: that we have a package that will help them take up and support new employment, because that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to need as we continue to see thousands upon thousands of New Zealanders lose their jobs. Thank you, Madam Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022 data-id=\u00223121310e31cc4e2b885a932f058c55a1\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000231\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00223121310e31cc4e2b885a932f058c55a1\u0022\u003EFLETCHER TABUTEAU (Deputy Leader\u2014NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Madam Speaker. It\u2019s a pleasure to rise in the House this afternoon on behalf of New Zealand First to speak to this Budget debate. As those members opposite and the team on this side will know, this is a Budget about jobs. It\u2019s about jobs, it\u2019s about jobs now, it\u2019s about making more jobs in the not too distant future, and then making even more jobs through infrastructure and productivity as we move forward.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000232\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022\u003EBut, Madam Speaker, this is the first time I\u2019ve had a chance to speak in the House in this reduced size capacity, so I just wanted the opportunity to acknowledge yourself, to acknowledge the members opposite, to thank the previous speaker, Jonathan Young, for example, for his contribution\u201490 percent of it he got right. His message was bang on the money. It is about jobs; it is about employment. What the member who spoke previously failed to note was that this Government is proudly doing the mahi to make sure that today, tomorrow, and the day after, our focus is on New Zealand and New Zealanders and their jobs.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000233\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022\u003ESo that is what this Budget is about, and that is what gives me pride to stand up in this House of Representatives today, to speak to a response to one of the most unprecedented disruptions to the world\u2019s economy, to the lives of people around the entire world. We have seen disruptions before but we have seen nothing like this. The uncertainty around the world and the struggle to plan, to look forward, for a lot of the economies is stifling, it\u2019s scary, and what we are doing here is making sure that not only New Zealand businesses or New Zealand households but everyday Kiwis know that this Government has got their back.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000234\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022\u003EI just wanted to take this 10-minute contribution to explain how we are doing that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000235\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255d0b7a4-a2c9-4c38-9b77-475311a48a89\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f0dba457051a4c6c9630071cdf0890ef\u0022\u003ESimeon Brown\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, please!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000236\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00224cd11b260a7849bb9f810aa7319b4f13\u0022\u003EFLETCHER TABUTEAU\u003C/span\u003E: So, just for the member who interrupted, Simeon Brown, can I suggest he take another poll, perhaps on last year\u2019s Budget, and what we should be spending on that. It might be as useful as the poll he gave the Twitterazzi a couple of days ago, which was a complete waste of time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000237\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022\u003EBut I digress. I just need to acknowledge the new Leader of the Opposition, Mr Muller, and the deputy leader. They have taken on an incredible, gargantuan task of reconnecting with an electorate, and it\u2019s not so much wishing them the best of luck, but good on them. It was a successful, bloodless coup d\u2019\u00E9tat, and all power to them within their electorate, as it were.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000238\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022\u003ELet me, first, briefly outline the broad strokes of the Budget before I go into detail. So this is a $50 billion COVID-19 response\u2014a recovery fund, as I said before, that is about jobs. But what probably has been mentioned a few times in the House and bears repeating is that the forecasts predict, based on the budgets provided to the public, a return to unemployment rates of around or less than 4.5 percent\u2014probably closer to 4 percent\u2014by 2022. We are looking at actual economic growth next year when, and as, this Budget takes hold and the wonderful people of New Zealand are allowed to get back out there and do their thing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000239\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022\u003EThis has been a Budget that is about saving jobs, and the other side of the House seem reluctant to acknowledge that, actually, in saving jobs right now we are saving the economy and empowering it to move forward, to move forward quickly and efficiently. I say that because most employers\u2014well, all the employers I\u2019ve talked to\u2014want to keep their people on board. They\u2019ve invested in their staff, they\u2019ve spent money, they\u2019ve taken risk on the people working for them, and they would rather hold on to the staff they have. And, for the benefit of those members opposite, I just put a simple economic equation in front of them to ponder this afternoon. In a very basic economic model, there are two players in an economy\u2014households and firms. In that model, there are two lots of flows, interaction between those two important sectors. You\u2019ve got wages and goods and services going from firms to households. What are households flowing back? They are flowing their worker resource and their consumption. That seems to have been lost by the members opposite. It\u2019s an interdependent relationship, and this side of the House, as illustrated in this Budget response, has shown that we recognise the interdependent nature of those two core parts of an economy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000240\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022\u003EYes, absolutely, talk about small business and our response to them\u2014and if I have time I will go into some of the detail on some of what we\u2019ve done\u2014but you have to be able to talk about what it is we have done in terms of saving jobs through the wage subsidy scheme, but making sure that consumers, those households, have that income in their pockets. Without households having money now, there is nothing to spend in small businesses\u2014or the big ones. So businesses need that confidence. They need to know that, as they spend money on themselves, as they take on those interest-free loans, as they apply for those tax breaks\u2014the carry-forward tax breaks, for example\u2014and take the risk and invest in themselves, and make the hard decision to move forward now in this COVID environment\u2014because I do know how hard it is for them\u2014their customers have money. But they need to know, also, that the Government is there to support them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000241\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022807a5a40c762405191abc881475557a9\u0022\u003EBarbara Kuriger\u003C/span\u003E: Tell us about their constraints. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000242\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022068ab349a3cf4071bcdfcc7c1a1c8ee6\u0022\u003EFLETCHER TABUTEAU\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019ll talk to you separately and after this, Ms Kuriger. So what they need to know is that small businesses are being looked after as well, and so I wanted to bring to the House several examples. The first one that comes to mind is the loss carry-back scheme. It\u2019s a $3 billion fund from the Inland Revenue Department, funded by this coalition Government, which says to small businesses\u2014well, businesses of up to 50 employees; so it is about small businesses\u2014\u201CGo and access that money. Go and look at your tax situation from the past. We will help you bring that forward as real money, right now, so that you can look at real fixed costs as you make decisions about moving forward.\u201D Not just the variable costs such as wages and the like but fixed costs around rent, insurance, those kinds of things\u2014there is real money there.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000243\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022\u003EThere\u2019s also the opportunity, and I think this needs to be promoted more, for more promotion there, around small businesses being able to take out interest-free loans\u2014interest-free loans. Several thousand firms have taken up the opportunity, but many more could avail themselves of that opportunity right now.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000244\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022\u003EThe one I wanted to talk about particularly, out of this Budget, was the research and development tax credit programme. New Zealand First is proud that, in coming into this coalition, we negotiated the return of a research and development credit programme. For those listening, it was scrapped by the National Government almost as soon as they came into Government, back in the day. We brought it back, and we fixed it up because, yes, we acknowledge there were issues with it at the time, but they just needed to be fixed, and fixed them we have. What the Budget has done is make sure that small innovative firms who are looking to create jobs through innovation and that research and development opportunity can actually collect the cash now and not claim it back as a loss or as part of their revenue programme later\u2014get it now.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000245\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e11a5f05-1940-41b2-8f1e-911dba7a43a5\u0022\u003ESo I had about 20 more pages of notes on what we\u2019re doing for New Zealand business, but this is a balanced response from the Government, and we have done a lot of work to empower New Zealand. Thank you very much.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022 data-id=\u0022677615536f8f4eada01b3ebad413965c\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000246\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022677615536f8f4eada01b3ebad413965c\u0022\u003EHon Dr NICK SMITH (National\u2014Nelson):\u003C/span\u003E I want to highlight in this Budget debate how this Government is unnecessarily costing New Zealanders their jobs, because where I agree with Mr Fletcher Tabuteau is this Budget and the upcoming election is all about jobs. When I first came to this Parliament, unemployment was 10 percent. Can I tell you, as a constituency MP, the cost of that level of unemployment is horrific on the communities that each of us represent. I\u2019m proud of the record in the 1990s when we got unemployment down from 10 percent to 4 percent, and I\u2019m equally proud of the effort in the last decade. Here are the numbers for the members opposite: every year from 2010 to 2017, the number of people that were unemployed in New Zealand came down\u2014it came all the way down to a level of 124,000 in late 2017.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000247\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003ENow, in this Budget in which we debate jobs, we should reflect on the fact that in this Government\u2019s first year, they inherited a very strong economy and the number of jobless went up by 13,000. And in the next year, 2019, unemployment went up another 10,000. We are in the best of economic times, and even before COVID-19 hit, we had unemployment rising. Then we come to this year\u2019s Budget, that forecasts unemployment to rise to 9.6 percent, or 240,000 New Zealanders\u2014that is horrific. That\u2019s why every member of this House should be focused on how we can protect New Zealand jobs.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000248\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003EThat\u2019s why I want to bring a story to this House of the business that I visited this morning in Nelson, which is a classic example of this Government\u2019s recklessness and incompetence in costing New Zealanders jobs. I am hugely proud of New Zealand\u2019s and Nelson\u2019s marine engineering industry. In the time that I\u2019ve been the MP, it\u2019s grown up to 500 people employed\u2014I\u2019m talking about steel workers, I\u2019m talking about marine painters, I\u2019m talking about marine carpenters, I\u2019m talking about marine electricians. They maintain vessels from all over the Pacific\u2014jobs worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000249\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003EYet this Government\u2019s policy right now is costing those people jobs, and let me tell you how. The Government has been approached\u2014and I\u2019ve been working with Government officials over the last three weeks, just a little example, trying to get the Capt. Vincent Gann vessel into New Zealand. Now, it\u2019s come from American Samoa. American Samoa has not a single case of COVID-19\u2014absolutely zero. They closed their borders even before us, on 23 March. The vessel has been at sea for more than three weeks. The company, shipping agents, and myself have written to immigration Ministers, to customs Ministers, to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, to officials to plead for that vessel to be able to come into the port of Nelson for repair work. The vessel did come to Nelson two years ago\u2014$6.5 million of work. Do you know what the Government had to say to Aimex and those that wanted to bring that vessel into New Zealand? I have the email in front of me: \u201CThe vessel should go to Hawaii or someone else for repairs.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000250\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003ENow, how is that consistent with the statement by the Prime Minister and the words that we have just heard from others that somehow they are protecting New Zealand jobs? They are not. They are actually costing companies like Aimex jobs. Aimex has already lost millions of dollars of work and contracts during COVID-19, and they have already had to lay off staff, and, if this decision stands, they will continue to have to make people redundant.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000251\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003EHere\u2019s the other insulting part. Why is it that the Government has provided an exemption for film workers from Los Angeles for the Avatar movie but not for the marine engineering firms in Nelson that want the $600,000 of work to repair this vessel? How many cases are there of COVID in Los Angeles as compared with American Samoa? Answer, I\u2019ve checked: 24,000 cases of COVID-19 in California; zero in American Samoa. Can a Minister or a member opposite please explain why you are putting my Nelson constituents out of work by denying access for those jobs in Nelson?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000252\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003EI also have to say: where has the Government\u2019s interest been\u2014and I challenge Mr Jones who\u2019s in the Parliament. Where is the guy who claims to be the \u201CChampion of the Regions\u201D when it comes to the loss of 100 aviation engineering jobs? I say it\u2019s bad enough that the Government has been absolutely silent and missing in action over those aviation engineering jobs, and now equally so with respect to marine engineering. Members ask: how is it relevant to the Budget? The Budget provides for $900 million of support for Air New Zealand. Why has the Government that claims it\u2019s the champion for the regions not tagged that $900 million of support to jobs and services to the regions? The embarrassment of Shane Jones on this issue has been appalling.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000253\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ad805e8b7f1346f094da0183753a2dd9\u0022\u003EHon Shane Jones\u003C/span\u003E: Physically impossible\u2014physically impossible.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000254\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022184522db54904bfe99e47aba3383bcc4\u0022\u003EHon Dr NICK SMITH\u003C/span\u003E: Here\u2019s what Nelsonians say, Mr Jones: \u201CIf it was 100 jobs being lost in Whang\u0101rei, would we expect Mr Jones to be silent?\u201D I have an invitation to Mr Jones: come and visit Aimex engineering in Nelson and front up to the workers whose jobs are disappearing because of your daft policies in respect of Customs and Immigration in refusing vessels being able to come here for work. I invite Mr Jones and other members of the Government to come to Nelson Airport and explain to the hundreds of families that are affected by the redundancies that are a product of this Government\u2019s lack of responsiveness to the jobs crisis that is part of COVID-19.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000255\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003EThe Budget also provides for $6.3 billion of support in Government business guarantee\u2014a programme that was announced at the beginning of April: $6 billion. We\u2019re two months later, how much has been paid out? Less than $60 million\u2014less than $60 million. That\u2019s less than 1 percent of what has been announced. What this Government is great at is big, flash announcements, big sums of money with no follow through. Can I give another practical example? Everybody knows the hospitality industry is struggling. I\u2019ve got a restaurant in my constituency in Richmond called Armadillo\u2019s. It was provided with a very generous $35,000 grant from IRD under that scheme. But can members explain this for me: two days after receiving the bank money from IRD, the IRD demands it be paid back. It demands, two days after paying it, that it be paid back\u2014an issue I\u2019m trying to work through with Stuart Nash, because there\u2019s another 14 jobs being put at risk.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000256\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003EThe fundamental part is this Government does not have a clue about how to protect jobs. I say that based on their track record. How could any Government in 2018 and 2019, inheriting one of the strongest economies in the OECD, over those two years push another 23,000 people on to the dole queues? New Zealanders in the 1990s, when we faced unemployment of 10 percent, turned to National as the party that could rebuild the economy and get people back into work. When New Zealand hit tough times with the global financial crisis, where did New Zealanders turn to restore the strength to the New Zealand economy and to get unemployment down? They turned to National. The reason that National is so important, whether it be producing the Budget, whether it\u2019s practical policies associated with the marine engineering industry or the parts of the New Zealand economy, is we get business. Giving Government grants and demanding them back just costs jobs. Blocking vessels that can come to New Zealand and provide jobs and employment, the Government says, \u201CSend the boat to Hawaii.\u201D We say, \u201CBring it to New Zealand. Let New Zealand have those jobs.\u201D It\u2019s those sorts of practical policies that this country needs if it\u2019s going to recover from the challenges of COVID-19.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022 data-id=\u00229f73f6f0d01e41b5bc2707f242419937\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000257\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00229f73f6f0d01e41b5bc2707f242419937\u0022\u003EHon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister of Conservation):\u003C/span\u003E T\u0113n\u0101 koe e Te M\u0101ngai o Te Whare. I had the privilege on Friday of being at Lake Brunner/Kotuku Whakaoho, and it\u2019s there that this Government is giving another example of the practical policies that it is putting in place to provide resources to the regions which both restore nature and create jobs. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000258\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e978865e-57e5-41d6-a7f6-b49daae78630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022741c6d34d9694565a10edbbedb7b8008\u0022\u003EHon Dr Nick Smith\u003C/span\u003E: We provided a grant for that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000259\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228bcccd893dca40b191bb59c389f1db18\u0022\u003EHon EUGENIE SAGE\u003C/span\u003E: Te Kinga\u2014well, the National Party talked about Predator Free 2050. They had a lot of vision but it didn\u2019t invest the p\u016Btea to make that vision real. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000260\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f44431ef-b505-4e94-9f57-a60b0a569bf7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229ab22ca4a1c24fc2ae20ed87b61408e8\u0022\u003EHon Shane Jones\u003C/span\u003E: No p\u016Btea. No sense.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000261\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00225c0327534ba6437397b144c5486831be\u0022\u003EHon EUGENIE SAGE\u003C/span\u003E: So what the Provincial Growth Fund has done\u2014thank you, Matua Jones\u2014was last February, $19.5 million was granted to Predator Free 2050 Ltd, a Crown company, to invest in making predator-free Aotearoa real. So Mount Te Kinga, Lake Brunner, is getting $4.5 million to take the 3,700 hectares of that magnificent podocarp forest on Te Kinga and make it possum-free: eradicate possums so there won\u2019t need to be further work done there, and potentially eradicate rats, too. It\u2019s an example of a brilliant project where you\u2019ve got Te Papa Atawhai\u2014the Department of Conservation\u2014working with Predator Free New Zealand Ltd, the West Coast Regional Council, and local landholders in the Lake Brunner conservation care group. That group of landholders has been involved in initiatives to protect water quality for a number of years. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000262\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003ESo here we\u2019ve got the Government, through the Provincial Growth Fund, investing in pest control that will not only benefit biodiversity but will also benefit farming because this area is an area where there\u2019s been tuberculosis (TB). OSPRI\u2019s been doing predator control for a number of years. If we get rid of possums, we get rid of that vector for spreading TB. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000263\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003EThere were, in the 1880s, naturalists such as W W Smith, who talked about k\u0101k\u0101p\u014D being there, talked about flocks of t\u012Beke or saddlebacks. M\u0101ori call the lake lake Rerenga ki taonga o ng\u0101 manu ki K\u014Dtuku Moana, the refuge of treasured birds belonging to Kotuku Whakaoho/Lake Brunner. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000264\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003EThis is vision. This is vision supported by funding. The previous speaker, the Hon Dr Nick Smith, talked about National\u2019s response to the global financial crisis (GFC). Well, National\u2019s response to the GFC was, under that Minister, to crash conservation funding, slash it with the loss of 200 jobs in the department, and it has been this Government, over the last two years, which has had to rebuild the legacy of neglect that that Government created: the loss of expertise across the country, the failure to invest in the protection of nature. So this rebuilding is what this Government has been about. I am very glad that we have this Government in power and not National, because otherwise we would see that same slash and burn Budget that characterised National\u2019s response to the GFC. What we have seen instead, in Budget 2020 and this Government\u2019s response to COVID, is $1.1 billion invested in nature-based jobs. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000265\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003EAs we have heard from others, this Budget is about jobs. So this $1.1 billion is spread across Vote Environment, Vote Conservation, Vote Primary Industries, and Vote Land Information. It is an investment which will pay dividends in terms of restoring nature, which supports us as people, and the services it provides are the basis of our food and fibre export industry and are the basis of tourism, which will recover. We want an economy that is prosperous, but one that also is more resilient, more equitable, and one where nature is in good health. As Green Party co-leader James Shaw said in his Budget contribution, what we need in the long term is not a recovery but a renewal, a renewal of our relationship with the natural world and with each other. That\u2019s what this $1.1 billion investment is going to help do, and provide 11,000 jobs at the same time, to protect the livelihoods of families across Aotearoa so that they can put food on the table and support their wh\u0101nau.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000266\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003ESo it is ironic. Under the previous National Government, they slashed conservation funding. This Government is investing, and we are also investing extensively in pest and weed control so that the Crown is a very good neighbour of private farmers and other landholders and so that we can really get on top of the scourge of pests and weeds: $315 million going into biosecurity, including pest and weed control. Part of that funding is $148 million for the Department of Conservation to ramp up Predator Free New Zealand to work with iwi like Te Wh\u0101nau-a-Apanui and Ng\u0101ti Porou, to restore the Raukumara Range forest to health, because we have seen, under nine years of National, deer numbers in those forests getting so high that the deer browse on tree bark and ring-bark trees and kill them. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000267\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003EWe\u2019re seeing, in this Budget, $27 million for the Ministry for Primary Industries to deal to wallabies in Otago, in Canterbury, in Waikato, and in the Bay of Plenty. There have been years when wallaby numbers have been increasing, damaging the health of the forests there and yet nothing done. We are seeing $100 million in new funding over four years to tackle wilding conifers. We will see, in the term of this Government, wilding conifers controlled in the Craigieburn Forest Park, where they have been a scourge on the landscape for decades as they have spread from previous forest research plantations. Getting rid of wildings in that high country landscape will benefit landholders with grazing and will benefit the landscape values and biodiversity. And we are creating jobs. These jobs in wilding conifer control can assist those who\u2019ve lost jobs with the downturn of forestry as a result of COVID. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000268\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003EThis Budget is about investing in people and investing in nature so that we have got a more resilient country, economy, and so that people can get through the economic insecurity which is accompanying COVID. Land Information New Zealand is getting another $40 million over four years so that it can invest in controlling aquatic weeds in areas like Lake W\u0101naka, Lake Wakatipu, Lake Karapiro, the Te Arawa Rotorua Lakes, and so that it can invest in keeping our riverbeds in the South Island\u2014the Rangitata and the R\u0101kaia\u2014and the Rangit\u012Bkei in the North Island clear of pests and weeds, so that the Crown can be a good neighbour. This is a massive investment to create jobs across the country, to think about what our long-term vision is as a nation. And there\u2019s $433 million going into environmental restoration, particularly in the freshwater space. A large part of that funding is going to restore the Kaipara Harbour, and a major chunk of it is going to assist the recovery of rivers and lakes\u2014awa and moana\u2014around Aotearoa. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000269\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003EUnder National, we saw a very weak national policy statement (NPS) under the former speaker; this Government has strengthened that NPS for fresh water: new national environmental standards and the strongest reforms for water in a generation, to make sure that we are on a track to having rivers that are swimmable within a generation, not rivers that we had under National with the failure to control agricultural intensification, that were getting more and more degraded, higher E. coli levels, and higher nitrate levels. So this Government is strengthening the regulatory base and investing in jobs to assist a lot of the landholders who are moving to fence off their rivers to protect those riparian margins, to prevent sediment pollution, and to prevent nutrient pollution. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000270\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e122e0e6-61c6-4d17-9a79-6ad2ac7d127e\u0022\u003EOne of the things I was most pleased to see in the Budget was the $16 million which is being invested in adult education and courses, because, again, this was another example of this Government having to repair the neglect under National. In Budget 2009, National slashed funding for adult education from $16 million to $3 million. People going to night classes plummeted; the number of schools able to offer those courses plummeted. This investment, in Budget 2020, will enable a more modern adult education system and will enable people to get that digital technology training that they need. And that is part of a much bigger $1.6 billion investment in education, apprenticeships, and training, which will assist those who need the training to get jobs, and is investing in the people. This Budget is about investing in people and planet so that we have a resilient future and a country that comes through COVID as well economically as we have done in terms of our health. I\u2019m pleased to commend the Budget to the House. Kia ora. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022 data-id=\u0022e19a0a9faca44032abdcd02960aa3ad7\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000271\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022e19a0a9faca44032abdcd02960aa3ad7\u0022\u003EKANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National):\u003C/span\u003E Madam Speaker\u2014[Interruption] \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000272\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022012bbb2bc5a348d98d67ccda0cc1991f\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: So who\u2019s the new member? Looks different.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000273\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d58bcd68ace2436e85ea2bd06bc44b3a\u0022\u003EKANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI\u003C/span\u003E: Ha, ha! It\u2019s my privilege to stand and take this call. This Budget has a big task to address: the COVID-19 pandemic which has hit New Zealand. The world and New Zealand have been through this unprecedented pandemic. I hope and pray that mankind doesn\u2019t get to witness anything like what we have been through in the past few months. The pandemic may have got the whole world to stand still, may have grounded all our travel plans and the way we trade in the world; however, one of the biggest positive things from this pandemic was the human spirit which came together. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000274\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022\u003EDuring the pandemic, New Zealanders were very willing to help and support each other. I myself witnessed thousands of food parcels, loaves of bread, and milk being distributed by the Indian community. Here I would like to acknowledge some of the organisations that took this lead and distributed thousands of food parcels which included the Supreme Sikh Society, BAPS Avondale, BAPS Hamilton, BAPS Christchurch, Bharatiya Mandir, Auckland Indian Association, Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran in Papakura, Sikh Sangat in Tauranga, Gurdwara Guru Amardas Ji in Rotorua, and many more. They all came together to help those vulnerable who could not have access to their basic needs, and there were very generous people from all over the region, the Bay of Plenty, Hawke\u2019s Bay, and Pukekohe. They provided vegetables, fruit, and other things for the people who were in need of those things. From the bottom of my heart I thank all the donors for their generosity, which brought all New Zealanders together. There are more than 100 ethnicities in Auckland itself, and they all came together to support the vulnerable. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000275\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022\u003EAnother issue which I would like to touch upon is those New Zealanders who are stuck overseas during this pandemic.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000276\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002246d9930a988f43008641f54a34e10943\u0022\u003EDEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I appreciate that, but this is a debate on the Budget. So in making those comments, the speaker has to refer them to the Budget\u2014relate them to the Budget.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000277\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002213459d1291b84491b312436374fc8f92\u0022\u003EKANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, Madam Speaker, I\u2019m coming to that. But this is an important issue which I would like to\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000278\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228f44d993b6ab454ab52d912b2834638c\u0022\u003EDEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: OK, well, you\u2019ve had three minutes\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000279\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bcfcef67e6ac4e77b25f53b88b59b3b2\u0022\u003EKANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI\u003C/span\u003E: This is my first opportunity to speak in this House. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000280\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002270e7f7684e5548a1b64a8b65ac53739c\u0022\u003EDEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: I did give the member some latitude, but would you come to the Budget.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000281\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c978bb92fdf249f2a83543b73ce3a463\u0022\u003EKANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI\u003C/span\u003E: Yes, Madam Speaker. So on behalf of ethnic communities, because most of them are from small businesses and they are struggling to survive, this Government has been generous and fast enough to provide wage subsidies to businesses, which has helped the people in hardship, but there has been nothing for the businesses. They have got fixed costs which they have to pay\u2014the lease money, the insurances, and interest to the banks\u2014whereas they haven\u2019t got anything located within this Budget. We have been demanding from this side that we need to support businesses so that they can survive.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000282\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022\u003EWhen I was listening to the speech of the New Zealand First member, Fletcher Tabuteau, he said that there are two aspects\u2014one is the business, the other is the household. Households were given money to support them, to have money in their pocket so they can survive, but the businesses did not get anything. I was reading one of the stats that retail sales have dropped by almost 75 percent. The 25 percent was the only thing which was happening in retail, which was grocery stores. There were long queues of people who were waiting to buy their groceries. But what about those businesses who did not have a single penny coming into their cash tills? They are the ones which we need to help at this stage. But I don\u2019t see any plan from the Government that they are doing anything.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000283\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022\u003EThe only thing that I have heard of is they are giving a loan of $10,000 plus $1,200 per employee.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000284\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002295353d3569ed40c8a3059cbca672fe4e\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: $1,800.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000285\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002283c27a7cb2554e999b7a3d8d481664b9\u0022\u003EKANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI\u003C/span\u003E: $1,800 per employee. So that is a loan which they have to pay back later also.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000286\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c33ef7db3dd24c92827791a022469bca\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Interest-free loan.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000287\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002296e4a1d0be3c4a608649810e9803b3be\u0022\u003EKANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI\u003C/span\u003E: Yeah, interest-free, but they have to pay back that money. That is not money they are going to get in the long term for their businesses to survive. I was reading in the report that a restaurant in Whang\u0101rei\u2014they moved to Whang\u0101rei after the Christchurch earthquake. They established their business up there and they were doing so well until the COVID pandemic struck them. Today, their business has dropped by more than 50 percent, and it\u2019s very hard for them and their family because what they reckon is the margin they have is a maximum of 15 percent of their turnover\u201450 percent if the turnover has dropped; now they\u2019re having only 7.5 percent of the margin to survive, and I don\u2019t think any business can survive on those margins.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000288\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022\u003EThat is the reason why we are saying that we have to help small and medium businesses so that they can survive for the future. And 95 percent of the businesses, as the Government is saying, can have a loan of up to $100,000 only if they employ 50 people. But most of the businesses in New Zealand employ between five to 20 people\u2014that is the definition for small to medium businesses\u2014whereas they don\u2019t employ 50 people and they can\u2019t take $100,000. That is why National came up with the idea that they can have a refund of GST for what they have paid in the last six months, and if they invest in their equipment or assets they can have a tax benefit against that also\u2014up to $150,000. Today, the Leader of the Opposition, Todd Muller, time and again, asked the Prime Minister: will you opt for the proposition that the National Party has proposed, that $10,000 per new employee should be given to businesses? The Government has kept $20 billion as a reserve to be spent in the next few months. We know the policy which has been proposed by the National Party can have that money from there and it can be allocated for some kind of support for businesses.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000289\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00226dc89bbf-c2ef-45c9-89e4-d2b5952d8d16\u0022\u003EThese are the very important things which are very close to ethnic communities. As the spokesperson for the Opposition, from this side, I would like to say that I have been talking to many businesses. They are thinking about how they will survive in the near future. The 12 weeks\u2019 wage subsidy is going to expire very soon, and after that what is going to happen? We will see that more and more people will be made redundant, and that\u2019s not what we want to see. The Government members have been saying time and again that this Budget is focusing on jobs, jobs, jobs. But we are not hearing anything from them about how they are going to create those jobs. Only last month, we saw that 37,000 became unemployed, and that is a big challenge for this country for the future. We don\u2019t want to talk about the past three months; we want to talk about the next three years, about how we are going to make sure this country is back on track and try to progress as we did during the nine years of the National Government. I oppose this Budget.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022 data-id=\u00221eedff4763e1474692be648887f3f4d9\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000290\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221eedff4763e1474692be648887f3f4d9\u0022\u003EWILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E Te M\u0101ngai o Te Whare, t\u0113n\u0101 koe. Otir\u0101, t\u0113n\u0101 t\u0101tou katoa i roto i t\u0113nei Whare i t\u0113nei ahiahi. E tino harikoa ana ahau te t\u016B i t\u0113nei ahiahi ki te k\u014Drero e p\u0101 ki t\u0113nei Tahua P\u016Btea. Tuatahi, m\u0101ku me t\u012Bmata taku k\u014Drero ki te mihi ki t\u014D t\u0101tou t\u012Bma. Rima miriona t\u0101ngata i \u016B ki te kaupapa, ki te takahi i t\u0113nei mate urut\u0101, ki te aukati i t\u0113nei mate urut\u0101 i roto i Aotearoa nei. N\u0101 t\u014D koutou \u016B ki te kaupapa, n\u0101 t\u014D t\u0101tou \u016B ki te kaupapa, kua tae ki t\u0113nei w\u0101, ka taea e au te t\u016B ki te k\u014Drero e p\u0101 ana ki Te Tahua P\u016Btea me t\u014Dna tino kiko, me k\u012B, t\u014Dna tino kaupapa, \u0101, ko te whakaora an\u014D, ko te whakarauora an\u014D i t\u014D t\u0101tou \u014Dhanga i roto i Aotearoa. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000291\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EN\u014D reira, e mihi ana ahau ki Te Minita m\u014D Te Take P\u016Btea, ar\u0101, ki a Grant Robertson. Ia tau ko te mahi hanga i Te Tahua P\u016Btea, ehara i te mahi ng\u0101wari, ehara i te mahi m\u0101m\u0101, ar\u0101 noa atu ng\u0101 tono m\u014D te p\u016Btea, engari, i t\u0113nei tau he tino pakeke t\u0113r\u0101 mahi n\u0101 t\u0113nei mate urut\u0101, kua p\u0101ngia, ehara ko t\u0101tou anake i roto i Aotearoa, engari, puta noa i te ao. \u0100e, e tika ana te k\u014Drero, kotahi anake pea t\u0113nei kitenga i roto i t\u014Dku w\u0101 i runga i te mata o te whenua. Koir\u0101 te t\u016Bmanako. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000292\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EHe tino ohorere te titiro o t\u0113nei K\u0101wanatanga ki te mahi i ng\u0101 mahi kia takahi t\u0113nei mate urut\u0101 i roto i Aotearoa. I kite i t\u0113r\u0101 ohorere i te marama o Maehe, n\u0113? E whakaaro ana ahau i t\u0113tahi whakatau\u0101k\u012B n\u0101 K\u012Bngi T\u0101whiao, hei ko t\u0101na \u201CKi te k\u0101hore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te iwi.\u201D He whakakitenga i taua marama kei k\u014Dnei tonu t\u0101tou te iwi e ora tonu ana. He whakakitenga an\u014D ki roto i t\u0113nei Tahua P\u016Btea kia ora ai t\u0101tou katoa i roto i Aotearoa, kia ora tonu ai te \u014Dhanga o Aotearoa. N\u014D reira, e hiahia ana ahau ki te mihi tuatahi ki Te Pir\u012Bmia, a Jacinda Ardern; otir\u0101 ki te t\u012Bma o ng\u0101 Minita; me Te Minita o ng\u0101 Take P\u016Btea, ar\u0101, a Minister Grant Robertson.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000293\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EKa huri ahau ki ng\u0101 kaupapa i roto i Te Tahua P\u016Btea. Kua anga te titiro o t\u014D t\u0101tou K\u0101wanatanga i t\u0113nei w\u0101 ki te whakaora ake i te \u014Dhanga, ki te whakawhanake te \u014Dhanga i roto i Aotearoa. Ko te tino kaupapa? Ko te mahi, te mahi, te mahi. Ko te pupuri i ng\u0101 mahi, tuatahi, koir\u0101 te take o te moni atawhai, te moni \u0101whina, ki ng\u0101 pakihi kia pupuri tonu ng\u0101 kaimahi, \u014D r\u0101tou pakihi. Tuatahi, pupuri mahi.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000294\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003ETuarua, hanga mahi hou. Kua kite an\u014D hoki i t\u0113r\u0101 i roto i ng\u0101 k\u014Drero kua whakatau i roto i ng\u0101 toru wiki kua pahure ake nei, ko te hanga mahi hou. Me p\u0113hea te hanga mahi hou? I rongo ahau i t\u0113tahi k\u014Drero, k\u0101hore m\u0101tou e hanga ana he mahi hou, engari, mehemea e \u0101ta whakakarongo ana ki ng\u0101 k\u014Drero i roto i Te Whare i t\u0113nei ahiahi, kua rongo he mahi m\u014D te taiao. Neke atu i te 11,000 t\u016Branga mahi i roto i t\u0113r\u0101 kaupapa, me te p\u016Btea e tautoko ana i t\u0113r\u0101. Ka hanga mahi an\u014D hoki i roto i te kaupapa waihanga i roto i Aotearoa puta noa i ng\u0101 t\u0101one nui me ng\u0101 tuawhenua an\u014D hoki. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000295\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EKo te kaupapa tuatoru m\u014D ng\u0101 mahi ko te whakangungu ahumahi. Ko te ako i ng\u0101 p\u016Bkenga kia whiwhi mahi, ko te tautoko i ng\u0101 t\u0101ngata kia hoki ki te ako p\u016Bkenga hou kia whiwhi i ng\u0101 t\u016Branga mahi. I t\u0113nei r\u0101 tonu, ka puta te k\u014Drero mai i Te Minita m\u014D Te M\u0101tauranga, ka whiwhi p\u0113r\u0101 i te kore utu m\u014D ng\u0101 tau e 2\u00BD. He mea nui t\u0113n\u0101, e tautoko ana ahau, pau te kaha. Kua rongo i ng\u0101 k\u014Drero o Te Pir\u012Bmia i te r\u0101 nei e p\u0101 ana ki Te Mana in Mahi. He mana ki roto i te mahi. E tino tautoko ana ahau i Te Minita m\u014D ng\u0101 Mahi, ar\u0101, Te Minita Willie Jackson, m\u014D \u0101na kaupapa mahi puta noa i Aotearoa, engari ng\u0101 mahi i Te Tai Tokerau, ar\u0101, ko Te Poutama Rangatahi, e toru, e wh\u0101 pea ng\u0101 kaupapa i roto i Kaikohe, Moerewa, t\u014Dku ake takiw\u0101 e whai mahi ana r\u0101tou i roto i te ngahere, ki te whakatupu, ki te whakat\u014D i ng\u0101 k\u0101kano, te tupu i ng\u0101 r\u0101kau, me te poro i ng\u0101 r\u0101kau an\u014D hoki. He mea nui t\u0113r\u0101 kaupapa, Te Poutama Rangatahi, ka tautoko tonu i roto i t\u0113nei Tahua P\u016Btea.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000296\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003E\u0100e, i rongo i ng\u0101 k\u014Drero o Te Minita m\u014D Te Taiao, ar\u0101 m\u014D Te Papa Atawhai an\u014D hoki, ar\u0101 ko Minister Eugenie Sage, neke atu i te $1 piriona te utu ka whiwhi i taua w\u0101hanga ki te whakapaipai ake i t\u014D t\u0101tou taiao, ki te tiaki i t\u014D t\u0101tou taiao. Ar\u0101, ko ng\u0101 awa, ko ng\u0101 roto, ko ng\u0101 repo. Ki te patu i ng\u0101 ng\u0101rara, ng\u0101 paihamu, kiore, w\u012Bhara, w\u0101rapi an\u014D hoki. W\u0113r\u0101 momo ng\u0101rara katoa.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000297\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EKo t\u0113r\u0101 p\u016Btea ko ng\u0101 t\u016Branga mahi ka puta i t\u0113r\u0101, neke atu i te 11,000 t\u016Branga mahi. He mea nui t\u0113n\u0101 m\u014D ng\u0101 t\u0101ngata ka whai i t\u0113r\u0101 mahi, ka whiwhi i t\u0113r\u0101 mahi, engari m\u014D te taiao an\u014D hoki.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000298\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EKa tahuri ahau i roto i te toru meneti e toe ana ki Te Tahua P\u016Btea m\u014D ng\u0101i t\u0101tou, te iwi M\u0101ori, he mea nui t\u0113n\u0101, tata ki te $1 piriona te whiwhi; $900 miriona te p\u016Btea ka whiwhi i a ng\u0101i t\u0101tou te iwi M\u0101ori m\u014D ng\u0101 kaupapa p\u0113r\u0101 i te whiwhi mahi, ar\u0101, Mana in Mahi, He Poutama Rangatahi an\u014D hoki kua k\u014Drero k\u0113tia t\u0113r\u0101. M\u014D Te Wh\u0101nau Ora. E hiahia ana au ki te mihi ki Te Minita, a Peeni Henare, m\u014D Te Wh\u0101nau Ora, me t\u014D r\u0101tou mahi i roto i te w\u0101 o te noho haumaru, te mahi o ng\u0101 kaupapa wh\u0101nau ora puta noa i Aotearoa. I kite ahau i te pai o t\u0113r\u0101 mahi i roto i te takiw\u0101 o Te Tai Tokerau, n\u014D reira, ka hoatu w\u0113tahi atu moni ki a r\u0101tou ki te tautoko i t\u0113r\u0101 kaupapa. Neke atu i te $126 miriona m\u014D t\u0113r\u0101 kaupapa. He p\u016Btea nui t\u0113r\u0101 n\u0101 te mea e whakapono ana m\u0101tou, o Te K\u0101wanatanga, i te pai o t\u0113r\u0101 kaupapa o Wh\u0101nau Ora.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000299\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003ETuarua, ko te k\u014Dhanga reo. \u0100e, e menemene ana ahau an\u014D hoki, n\u0101 te mea kua roa r\u0101tou e tatari ana kia whiwhi i t\u0113tahi p\u016Btea kia tautoko i \u014D r\u0101tou kaiako, kai\u0101whina, me \u014D r\u0101tou whare an\u014D hoki. Neke atu i te $200 miriona te p\u016Btea kua whiwhi i a r\u0101tou ki te utu tika i \u014D r\u0101tou kaiako, ki te utu tika o r\u0101tou kai\u0101whina, ki te whakatikatika \u014D r\u0101tou whare. Tino hari, tino koa ahau te rongo i t\u0113r\u0101 k\u014Drero m\u014D t\u0113r\u0101 p\u016Btea kua whiwhi i a r\u0101tou. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000300\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EHe p\u016Btea an\u014D m\u014D te whare M\u0101ori. Neke atu i te $40 miriona, ko Te Minita a Nanaia Mahuta t\u0113r\u0101 e mahi ana i t\u0113r\u0101 kaupapa. E m\u014Dhio ana t\u0101tou ko te torutoru noa iho o ng\u0101 wh\u0101nau M\u0101ori kei a r\u0101tou t\u014D r\u0101tou ake whare, n\u014D reira, he kaupapa t\u0113nei ki te tautoko, ki te \u0101whina, i a r\u0101tou ki te whakat\u016B whare, whare mahana, whare pai an\u014D hoki.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000301\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EI te mutunga, ko ng\u0101 mahi toi. Harikoa ahau kua tohatoha \u0113tahi p\u016Btea ki Te Matatini, ki te papa whenua i Waitangi, ki Te Puia m\u014D \u0101 r\u0101tou mahi toi, kura toi an\u014D hoki. E Te Minita, kua pau k\u0113 te w\u0101 ki ahau i t\u0113nei w\u0101, engari ka hoki ahau ki te t\u012Bmatatanga o taku k\u014Drero ko te whakatau\u0101k\u012B a te k\u012Bngi, a K\u012Bngi T\u0101whiao \u201CKi te k\u0101hore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te iwi.\u201D N\u014D reira, t\u0113n\u0101 koe e Te M\u0101ngai o Te Whare.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000302\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003E[Madam Speaker, greetings. Greetings to one and all in the House this afternoon. I am thrilled to be able to stand and talk about the Budget. Firstly, I would like to begin my speech by thanking our team. Five million people took on the challenge to stamp out the pandemic, to stop this pandemic from taking hold here in New Zealand. It was due to your unyielding dedication to the cause that we are now at this point where I am able to talk about the Budget and its essence, its substance, which is the recovery, the revival, of our economy here in New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000303\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003ETherefore, I would like to acknowledge the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson. Every year the formation of a Budget is not an easy task, it is not a straightforward task, because of the numerous demands for funding, but this year it has been extremely difficult because of this pandemic which has affected not only us here in New Zealand but the entire globe. Yes, he is right: this is a once-in-my-lifetime event. Hopefully.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000304\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EThis Government saw the shock and saw the work needed to stamp out this pandemic in New Zealand. We saw that shock in March, right? I think to the proverb of King T\u0101whiao: he said, \u201CWithout foresight, the people are lost.\u201D There was foresight, that month, and because of that we are safe today. There is also foresight in this Budget to ensure we are all well and that our economy recovers. Therefore, I would like to firstly acknowledge the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern; Cabinet; and the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000305\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EI now turn to the substance of the Budget. Our Government has turned its focus to the strengthening of our economy, the development of our economy here in New Zealand. The main purpose? Jobs, jobs, jobs. It is, firstly, about retaining jobs. That is what the support payments and wage subsidies were for: to allow businesses to hold on to their workers and their business. Retain jobs first.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000306\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003ESecondly, creating new jobs. We have seen that in the discussions in the three weeks that have just passed, job creation. How do you create new jobs? I heard something, that we can\u2019t create new jobs; however, if people listen carefully to the speeches in the House this afternoon, they will have heard about jobs to do with the environment. More than 11,000 new jobs in that area, including the funding to support them. There will also be jobs created in the area of building in New Zealand, from the large urban areas to rural areas too.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000307\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EThe third point in regard to jobs is industry training. It is about learning new skills for new jobs; it is about supporting people to be able to train so that they can work in new jobs. On this very day, the Minister of Education has announced zero fees for 2\u00BD years. That is big, and I support it. Great work. We have heard from the Prime Minister today about Mana in Mahi. There is strength in work. I strongly support the Minister of Employment, Minister Willie Jackson, for his initiatives throughout New Zealand, but particularly in the North, He Poutama Rangatahi, there are three or four initiatives in Kaikohe, Moerewa, my very own region, in the areas of forestry, in re-growing, in reseeding, and in pulling and sawing trees. This is an important initiative, He Poutama Rangatahi, and it continues to be supported in this Budget.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000308\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EYes, we have heard from the Minister for the Environment, and the Minister of Conservation as well, Minister Eugenie Sage. More than $1 billion will be allocated to improve our environment, to protect our environment, rivers, lakes, and swamps. To eradicate pests, possums, rats, weasels, and wallabies too\u2014those types of pests.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000309\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EThat funding is where those jobs are created from, more than 11,000 jobs. That is important for those who get those jobs, but also for the environment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000310\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EIn my last three minutes I would like to turn to the benefits of this Budget for M\u0101oridom, which is huge: almost $1 billion will be received; $900 million will go to M\u0101ori for employment initiatives, such as Mana in Mahi and He Poutama Rangatahi, which I\u2019ve already spoken about. And for Wh\u0101nau Ora. I would like to acknowledge the Minister for Wh\u0101nau Ora, Peeni Henare, for their work during lockdown, their work throughout New Zealand. I saw the benefits of that work in the North; therefore, they will get extra funding for their work. More than $126 million for that initiative. That is a substantial funding injection because we, of this Government, believe in Wh\u0101nau Ora.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000311\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003ESecondly, k\u014Dhanga reo. Yes, I am grinning, because they have waited for so long for funding to be able to properly pay their teachers and their support staff and maintain their buildings. More than $200 million has been delivered to them to better pay their teachers and their support people and to improve their facilities. I am thrilled, I am elated, to hear about that funding.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000312\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003EThere is also funding for M\u0101ori housing. More than $40 million\u2014the Minister Nanaia Mahuta is spearheading that initiative. We all know that M\u0101ori homeownership rates are low so this funding will support them to build their own houses, their own warm, safe houses.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000313\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221ebd1031-ea10-4c3d-bb56-2cd99528ae91\u0022\u003ELastly, the arts. I am happy that funding has gone to Te Matatini, to the grounds at Waitangi, to Te Puia, to support their art work and their art training. Minister, my time is now up, but I go back to the beginning of my speech to the proverb of the king, of King T\u0101whiao: \u201CWithout foresight, the people are lost.\u201D Therefore, thank you, Mr Speaker.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022 data-id=\u002217281d9e20df426c83497f539b23317d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000314\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002217281d9e20df426c83497f539b23317d\u0022\u003ESTUART SMITH (National\u2014Kaik\u014Dura):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Speaker. It\u2019s a pleasure to follow the list member from the Far North. She mentioned work and retaining staff\u2014that was the translation, so I assume that\u2019s what she exactly said\u2014and that was the focus of the Budget, and that it\u2019s a rebuilding Budget. I want to focus on that because they are very noble things that we should be doing, we do need to retain staff\u2014actually, it\u2019s far cheaper to retain staff than to get new staff up and running when businesses return to what will be the new normal. It won\u2019t be what it was before; I think we all accept that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000315\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003EThis virus has certainly had an impact, but it is the lockdown that all of the economic damage has been done by. It\u2019s absolutely the lockdown, not COVID-19. I think that\u2019s fair enough, we had to do something, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s so important that decisions are made quickly to move from one level to another, when it is appropriate, and that everybody has a clear sight on what the criteria is. Businesses need certainty, they need certainty so that they can retain those staff\u2014they need confidence. It\u2019s not a matter of just getting up in the morning and saying, \u201CI\u2019m going to retain those staff\u201D; there is a cost. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000316\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003EEven though there is the wage subsidy\u2014which is great, that\u2019s fantastic. It was used during the Christchurch and Kaik\u014Dura earthquakes to great effect, and it was instrumental in many businesses surviving. However, as I go around my electorate and around the country talking to different businesses, it is clear that, as this first wage subsidy ends and we move on to the more than 50 percent drop in revenue for the second stage, a number of businesses aren\u2019t going to qualify for that. Their revenue will not reach that low point, but their fixed costs will still be eating into their profitability to the extent where they will let staff go, even though they could get money for those staff, because the cost of retaining them simply doesn\u2019t justify holding on to them. These are really tough decisions for these businesses. They have a huge interest in their staff; they know that they don\u2019t have a business without good staff.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000317\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003EI remember on 18 March in this House, speaking to the Hon Phil Twyford about Sounds Air. Sounds Air had approached me, and they were about to talk to the Minister, and I gave him a heads-up that they were wanting to talk to him. He, to his credit, rang them that night on 18 March. Sounds Air are not unique, other little airlines are in the same position, in that Air New Zealand was getting a $900 million loan from the Government, these businesses were sitting out there unable to carry full loads on their aircraft. No passengers, as we went into level 1, they weren\u2019t allowed to fly. So that meant those businesses, their fixed costs, having those aircraft that they own sitting on the ground\u2014yes, the wage subsidy is a great help, but those fixed costs keep eating into their balance sheet. They\u2019re a significant issue.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000318\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003ESo nearly 11 weeks later, what\u2019s happened? Well, they haven\u2019t got any money yet. The Minister assured them on 18 March, and, paraphrasing him, he said something like, \u201CWe won\u2019t let you guys down. We know how valuable these small airlines are for the recovery when we come out of lockdown.\u201D Well, they\u2019re coming out of lockdown now, and I\u2019m pleased to say they\u2019re flying, and I\u2019ve been on a number of flights, at least eight times since the lockdown ended. It\u2019s great, it\u2019s fantastic, they\u2019re out and flying. But on their Cessna aircraft, they can carry 12 passengers; under the current rules, they can only actually carry seven. I don\u2019t know the load factors on those aircraft, but I suspect that if the seventh passenger doesn\u2019t turn up, that\u2019s the profit. So these costs continue to go and build up for these airlines.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000319\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003EThe point I\u2019m making here is that, under this Budget, the Government has allocated a significant amount of money for business recovery. That\u2019s great, it\u2019s fantastic. But it\u2019s all very well to make a speech and make an announcement and allocate the money; it\u2019s another thing to deliver it. The point is, actually, in the case of Sounds Air, they\u2019re yet to deliver. And I know in a number of other businesses\u2014I spoke to another significant freight operator who told me they were down 50 percent, and they applied for money and support similarly to Sounds Air, although they\u2019re not an airline, and, initially, officials said to them, \u201CWell, just put your price up. Your freight volumes are down by 50 percent, but the solution is to put your price up.\u201D If only it were that simple.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000320\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003EThe Government Ministers have to get their heads around business. I know they don\u2019t have a business background, but there are plenty of people around that they could talk to. You\u2019ve got to understand how this works; otherwise, all of this money is going to be wasted\u2014if it\u2019s delivered, and, given what they\u2019ve done to date, it won\u2019t be, I don\u2019t believe.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000321\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003EI was speaking to some Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme workers in Central Otago the other day, and they were talking about retaining staff. Their visa conditions require them to work with their employer in Central Otago. They were supposed to go home in the winter. Unfortunately, they\u2019re from Vanuatu, and the borders are closed, and they can\u2019t go home. There is work for them, and that\u2019s in Marlborough. We can\u2019t get them up there because Immigration New Zealand (INZ) haven\u2019t processed their visas. It\u2019s been three weeks now; they haven\u2019t processed their visas. These people, under the rules, have to be paid for 30 hours a week. They\u2019re eating into work that New Zealanders would do later in the year, because INZ have not processed their visas. Very simple: process their visas, they get to carry on working until such time as they can go home, they want to, they need the money\u2014they\u2019ve had a cyclone, they need the money back home to help rebuild. Certainly, the vineyard owners in Marlborough, where they would go to prune grapes, need the labour. If the border opens up, there\u2019ll be people that will come in from over there. This is about recovering our economy, and this is slowing it down. It\u2019s all about managing it. You\u2019ve got to manage the recovery, you don\u2019t just announce money. You\u2019ve got to get out and manage it\u2014and that\u2019s not happening.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000322\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003EThe Green member talked about wilding pines and pest control, and I welcome that. In Marlborough, and, certainly, in South Marlborough, we have a significant issue with wilding pines. We have a problem with wilding pines because the old Forest Service and the catchment board, in their wisdom, tipped pine seeds out of an aircraft to try and stop erosion at one time, and, of course, lo and behold, we\u2019ve got a wilding pine problem\u2014a significant one. It\u2019s great to get people up there to work and control those pines; however, there are significant challenges with that. We\u2019re talking working in an environment up to 500 metres, and above, sea level. It\u2019s significantly cold even in the summer at night-time up there, and it\u2019s hard work. I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve ever seen wilding pine control, but it involves drilling holes into a pine tree and putting some chemical in there that kills the trees. Hard work, and some people will actually thrive on it. It\u2019s a wonderful job if you\u2019re keen and fit, but I suspect that a large number of the people that are unemployed will not be suited to that work. But we do need to get that job done, and the pest control is also a significant issue. I would implore the Minister to use contractors. Use contractors; don\u2019t use the Department of Conservation. I know how that would work: they\u2019d start work at 10, they\u2019d finish at 2, and they\u2019d be driving back to town every day. We need to get the job done, and we need to get it done quickly.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000323\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022094b0ff4-e404-451b-b4a9-ad12bd4dee56\u0022\u003EWe heard today in the House, we\u2019re talking about economic development, getting things done. Well, we have visas for Avatar staff, and America\u2019s Cup staff can\u2019t get their visas. Now, the Minister doesn\u2019t seem to know what\u2019s going on. One Minister says one thing and the Minister for Economic Development says another. Neither of them has told the applicants what they should be doing. I know this because I\u2019ve spoken to them, and I think that\u2019s an appalling waste of energy. These America\u2019s Cup teams are going to spend tens of millions of dollars each for a 10-month programme. The value to New Zealand is significant. And yet, they are not helping. Just get on and do your job. It\u2019s not just about making announcements and putting a big number out there and millions of dollars\u2014or billions of dollars in the case of the Budget\u2014it\u2019s about delivering. I have no confidence that they actually have the ability to do that. We need them to do it. Our economy deserves it. Our people deserve it. Our businesses deserve it. But these people, I fear, don\u2019t have the capability to deliver. It is with that that I put my severe reservations on this Budget. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022 data-id=\u002266b0477e1fb145dba10f5364f532c096\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000324\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002266b0477e1fb145dba10f5364f532c096\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: I understand this is a split call. I call Paul Eagle\u2014five minutes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022217f4585-f6ef-408d-9318-8a6b8506920b\u0022 data-id=\u0022542fdd1b7ccc4d2993aae42c779f6f65\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000325\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022217f4585-f6ef-408d-9318-8a6b8506920b\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022542fdd1b7ccc4d2993aae42c779f6f65\u0022\u003EPAUL EAGLE (Labour\u2014Rongotai):\u003C/span\u003E T\u0113n\u0101 koe e Te M\u0101ngai. Things must be pretty gloomy at the top of the South Island, but no such luck in the paradise of Rongotai, Wellington East, Wellington South, and, of course, the wonderful people of the Chatham Islands. I saw the MP for Mana looking over here, which means he must have his eye on some real estate in my electorate. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000326\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022217f4585-f6ef-408d-9318-8a6b8506920b\u0022\u003EBut I know that it\u2019s only good news on this side of the House, because on behalf of the people of Rongotai, they want me to say thank you to the Prime Minister, her leadership team, the executive, all the officials, and everyone else involved in the fantastic management of the COVID crisis. Too many people to name in this short slot, but I do want to acknowledge my colleague from across that heavily protected border of Rongotai in Wellington Central: the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, for his work, too, on such a fantastic Budget. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000327\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022217f4585-f6ef-408d-9318-8a6b8506920b\u0022\u003EWe\u2019ve heard the term \u201Crecovery\u201D mentioned several times. The good news is I bring lots of good stories because, like others, I was certainly dealing with hundreds of inquiries during lockdown. I was going to focus on lots of other things, but I thought I\u2019d talk about the business-related inquiries, because that seems to be topical. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000328\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022217f4585-f6ef-408d-9318-8a6b8506920b\u0022\u003ESo, whether they were contractors; sole-traders; small, large business; you name it, they rang. They knew I was at home and so they managed to get some privileged time. But can I say that they were scared, because this was a time none of them had ever experienced. They were looking, really, for hope\u2014but a bit more than hope; they wanted help and advice in real terms. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000329\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022217f4585-f6ef-408d-9318-8a6b8506920b\u0022\u003EI have to say that the business community in my patch are pretty resilient, and I want to acknowledge people like Amanda Elliot who\u2019s the owner-operator of the local New World there in Island Bay. She actually rang me in tears in the first couple of weeks, scared because, she said, \u201CLook, this is quite an overwhelming experience for me.\u201D There was a lot of negative press at the time. She said, \u201CLook, it\u2019s not true. We\u2019re doing our best within the rules, and we\u2019re trying to do the very best for locals.\u201D So I said, \u201CWell, look, when I\u2019m next down there, let\u2019s have a look.\u201D And I thought she was doing a pretty good job considering she didn\u2019t really know what she was doing except for running a store that she\u2019s run for most of her life. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000330\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022217f4585-f6ef-408d-9318-8a6b8506920b\u0022\u003ELikewise, when I look at a couple of local women who had taken a risk late last year and opened up a new gym franchise: F45 it\u2019s called; Mel Lourie and Rebecca Patrick\u2014Becks. They decided to quit their consultant jobs and take a punt and open this new gym. They said, \u201CLook, we\u2019ve opened this new gym. What are we going to do? We are going to lose our membership. We\u2019re scared of it being burgled.\u201D It had been burgled, unfortunately, early on in the opening. So what I noticed between Amanda, Mel, and Becks is that they came up with innovative thinking. Their innovation was to say to the members, \u201CDon\u2019t leave us in your droves; keep paying and we\u2019ll let you take home some of the equipment. That\u2019s our quid pro quo. We want you to stay. We want you to keep fit. We\u2019ll move online. We\u2019ll show some initiative and be innovative.\u201D So that\u2019s what they did.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000331\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022217f4585-f6ef-408d-9318-8a6b8506920b\u0022\u003EI just want to add a bit more on\u2014because the previous speaker, Stuart Smith, talked about an airline and I, too, have the privilege of being in daily contact with Air Chathams\u2014that\u2019s the lifeline service down to the Chatham Islands. Craig and Duane Emeny\u2014they were wholeheartedly supportive of our aviation package. Can I thank the Minister of Transport for that. They were enabled to keep the business side of it going, and what a wonderful way to ensure that just the necessities of life were getting out to the Chatham Islands.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000332\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022217f4585-f6ef-408d-9318-8a6b8506920b\u0022\u003EBut all in all, we made money available to businesses. In the Budget we are continuing that line to make money available to those most in need. That\u2019s the spirit of this coalition Government. When I look through other parts of it in terms of those bits that I think impact the electorate most, there are funds available in all sorts of areas of our Budget to help Kiwis, New Zealanders, ensure that they can get back to normal\u2014a new normal, whatever we\u2019re going to brand it, however people respond, but there\u2019s money there for people to continue to live a decent life. Thank you, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022 data-id=\u0022235b4abc02aa4679b720c431ff3ffe1b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000333\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022235b4abc02aa4679b720c431ff3ffe1b\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: Dr Duncan Webb\u2014five minutes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022 data-id=\u0022e13642a32b3049298e3f9023dc74bd4c\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000334\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022e13642a32b3049298e3f9023dc74bd4c\u0022\u003EDr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour\u2014Christchurch Central):\u003C/span\u003E T\u0113n\u0101 koe e Te Mana Whakaw\u0101. This nation has been built on a promise. From our inception, we wrote a promissory note, a document in which we undertook that every New Zealander would have the same protections, rights, and privileges. That promise was written in Te Tiriti, our founding document. In 1938, we came together as a nation and we extended that promise to a promise to protection against the suffering and deprivation which we saw in the Great Depression. In 1938, when the Social Security Act was first passed, Michael Joseph Savage promised to make New Zealanders secure against poverty, against illness, against infirmity, and against old age. That is a promise that, to this day, New Zealanders hold dear. We will not default on that promise. That is a cheque which this Government will honour. It will not be returned marked \u201Cinsufficient funds\u201D, or, in modern parlance, in this store, the credit is good, and that social security card will not be declined.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000335\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003EThere have been times since 1938 when the Government has failed the citizens of New Zealand and broken that promise, and we need to acknowledge that. However, as the Minister of Finance made clear in his speech, we will not make the same mistakes of austerity that were made in the 1980s and 1990s. This Government will not place the costs of the current crisis on the bent shoulders of those who have already carried more than their fair share. We will not burden our poorest, our weakest, or our sickest with the significant costs that lie ahead; we will make sure they have enough to get by and we all have enough to get by\u2014a home to live in, schools for our kids, and food on the table. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000336\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003EThe role of Government has never been greater and more important than it is today. All sectors of New Zealand are looking to Government for guidance, for management, but, most importantly, for support, and this Government, under the leadership of Jacinda Ardern, will rise to that task. We have already committed billions of dollars to the wage subsidy to keep people in jobs, to building more State houses to keep people in homes, and to massive spending on infrastructure, education, and the environment so that we are resilient and ready for tomorrow. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000337\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003EThis is socialism with a New Zealand face\u2014a country in which we accept as a nation the important role that Government has to step in where the market fails us for whatever reason. Today, the market is suffering from an ailment worse than we have ever seen. The market is a sick man, and we will help it. But I want to say why we will help it\u2014why we will help the business sector\u2014not because profit is good for its own sake and not to glorify material wealth or to promote unbridled consumerism; we will support the business sector for the people\u2014all of the people. He tangata, he tangata, he tangata. The cleaner who starts work at 4 a.m., the bus driver, the care worker who looks after our parents, the teachers and teacher aides who school our tamariki, the students stacking supermarket shelves\u2014we\u2019ll look after those people and their wh\u0101nau and all around them. They are the hard-working New Zealanders that we put first. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000338\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003EThis Budget supports business because business is one part\u2014a crucial part\u2014of our recovery. We know there is pain ahead, but what I\u2019ve seen as a long-time resident of Christchurch Central is that we have an immense capacity to endure pain and hardship and to help each other, as long as it is shared fairly and equitably. The world ahead of us will be different from that which we leave behind in ways we cannot now comprehend, but we want to rebuild a New Zealand that we can be proud of\u2014as proud of as we are of the achievements of the Savage Government. I want to acknowledge the very real personal pain of lost jobs and businesses that cannot easily be shared. We cannot save every job or preserve every business, but we will save every job we can and sustain every business that we can.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000339\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003EBut protecting New Zealand for future generations is more than just this; it includes protecting who we are\u2014our taonga as well as our whenua. That is why we are committed to preserving our heritage; our arts; our performing arts; and our museums, galleries, and libraries. Too often these are the first to go\u2014the places where we preserve our wairua and m\u014Dhiotanga.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000340\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003EThis is a Budget for all of New Zealand, one where we need to unite not only to fight COVID, which we have done so successfully, but to rebuild New Zealand together to nurture and protect each other. I\u2019m proud to be part of this Government, which is doing just that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022 data-id=\u002293f7a04691a0478089c0670d0f43f28c\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000341\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002293f7a04691a0478089c0670d0f43f28c\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: I understand this is a split call. I call Denise Lee\u2014five minutes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022943fd636-21ec-4442-9a72-68c49464776f\u0022 data-id=\u0022b690dc38e5e34db1a9bb0c5ded5ca55d\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000342\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022943fd636-21ec-4442-9a72-68c49464776f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022b690dc38e5e34db1a9bb0c5ded5ca55d\u0022\u003EDENISE LEE (National\u2014Maungakiekie):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. One of the benefits of participating in the Budget debate a little lower down the list is that you get to see, read, and hear others\u2019 reactions to the Budget and what the Government has put on offer. We all know that a Budget sets out the spending agenda, and it\u2019s where this coalition Government, once again, attempts to put its collective heads together and say, in a spreadsheet kind of way, \u201CThis is where we want New Zealand to go. This is what\u2019s important to us. This is what leadership looks like. This is New Zealand\u2019s future.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000343\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022943fd636-21ec-4442-9a72-68c49464776f\u0022\u003EWe also know that this Budget is like no other. We\u2019re in one heck of an unparalleled crisis, the COVID-19 crisis\u2014one that we will never again see in our lifetimes. We have been a little bit scared of what lies ahead\u2014the uncertainty\u2014and so we\u2019ve looked to the Government for leadership and for certainty. What did we see? No plan and no substantive direction. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000344\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022943fd636-21ec-4442-9a72-68c49464776f\u0022\u003EWhen we\u2019ve got $60 billion of net debt, which will head to $200 billion, and 150,000 losing their jobs over the next few months, what we got was an incoherent set of announcements using big numbers\u2014eye-watering numbers. For instance, the Department of Conservation and the conservation job scheme for weed and pest control: $1.1 billion; $3.9 billion for health sounded large, but, actually, it was only business as usual, and barely enough to cover deficits. And how about that kicker: the $20 billion slush fund\u2014unallocated? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000345\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022943fd636-21ec-4442-9a72-68c49464776f\u0022\u003ESo what New Zealanders were asked to do was believe that big numbers equals big plan\u2014that\u2019s what New Zealanders were asked to buy into\u2014and what of those reactions that we have now the benefit of reviewing because we\u2019re a couple of weeks down the track from the Budget delivery? How about that former Labour treasurer in the Australian today, that said that this Government has \u201Cno idea whatsoever\u201D except to throw money around? Then, we had Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), here in New Zealand, where they said, \u201Cin many key areas Budget 2020 appeared to be missing in action, particularly stimulus related recovery investments, \u2026 it leaves\u201D\u2014good one, LGNZ\u2014\u201Cthose looking for further detail on how the Government intends to get the country truly back onto the road to recovery wanting.\u201D Shamubeel Eaqub: \u201CThere is still a need for transformative change.\u201D \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000346\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022943fd636-21ec-4442-9a72-68c49464776f\u0022\u003ENow, all politics is local, and I traipsed up and down my local retailers as soon as we could in terms of lockdown levels to get their reactions. Now, granted, they did accept and were grateful for the wage subsidy extension, but they then went on to say that it doesn\u2019t fundamentally address cash flow as a business. They all said the same thing to me, one by one by one, \u201CAre there going to be other announcements for us? Is there going to be more? What\u2019s coming next?\u201D, because what was there and what is there is not, fundamentally, enough. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000347\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022943fd636-21ec-4442-9a72-68c49464776f\u0022\u003ESo, to the Government, today, I\u2019ve focused on\u2014very briefly in my five-minute call\u2014their lack of plan. But, let\u2019s face it: even the best plan means nothing if you can\u2019t execute it. I wish this coalition Government very much good luck, because their track record isn\u2019t too crash hot. KiwiBuild: 100,000 is now\u2014what?\u2014390. Light rail is now no rail. Child poverty targets: most not met. Mental health: lots of talk; no delivery. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000348\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022943fd636-21ec-4442-9a72-68c49464776f\u0022\u003EWhat we need, and what we needed from this Budget, is logical streams of coordinated spend and a direction that ties us together. Where was the coordinated front-bench effort, bringing their best in our worst of times? What we needed was for the front bench to bring their best in our worst of times. New Zealanders deserve better because never have we been in more need than we are right now, and I\u2019d like to thank Todd Muller for his exceptional line on 17 empty seats, because nothing screams louder than 17 empty seats than looking at this Budget 2020.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022 data-id=\u0022f87313a123724a8ea4c9a29a81c66ea4\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000349\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022f87313a123724a8ea4c9a29a81c66ea4\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: I call Dr\u2014[Interruption] Order! I call Dr Parmjeet Parmar\u2014five minutes. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002258eae615-ef83-4df5-bace-6749bdd312a8\u0022 data-id=\u0022a3a8e4f7921c4e228ff882c88f70eb56\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000350\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002258eae615-ef83-4df5-bace-6749bdd312a8\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a3a8e4f7921c4e228ff882c88f70eb56\u0022\u003EDr PARMJEET PARMAR (National):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to take this call. It appears that saying words like \u201Cresearch and development\u201D and words like \u201Cinnovation\u201D makes you sound smart and fashionable. Obviously, the Labour Government is quite smart, so they like to use such words in their speeches, especially in their Budget speeches, and they used these words \u201Cresearch and development\u201D and \u201Cinnovation\u201D in Budget 2020 as well. But when you look through their speeches to see what is there to support research and development and innovation, there is nothing, and it\u2019s quite disappointing to see that those words are used, for there is no substance to support actual research and development and innovation in Budget 2020. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000351\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002258eae615-ef83-4df5-bace-6749bdd312a8\u0022\u003EI would like to talk about some specific things here. The first thing I would like to talk about is the wage subsidy scheme. So, yes, the wage subsidy scheme we know has been good for businesses. Businesses wanted that. That kind of support was welcomed by businesses, but we know that the criteria that were set up for the wage subsidy scheme didn\u2019t fit for research and development companies that are in a pre-revenue phase, because the conditions are that the company that will be accessing the wage subsidy should have experienced a drop in revenue\u2014that is of 30 percent. The second is, if they are new companies, then it\u2019s fine because, obviously, they haven\u2019t had any revenue in the last year.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000352\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002258eae615-ef83-4df5-bace-6749bdd312a8\u0022\u003EBut for research and development start-up companies, we know that these companies go through a pre-revenue phase for a number of years. So for a number of years they don\u2019t have any revenue, so how could they prove that drop of 30 percent in their revenue to access that wage subsidy scheme? Obviously they were left out, and this was brought to my attention by the research and development start-up sector. I took it up with the Minister of Research, Science and Innovation. I wrote a letter to the Minister on 31 March. Then it was covered in media on 6 and 7 April, and it appeared that the Minister was going to act on it ASAP. But then, on 28 April, I had not received any reply and I followed up with the Minister of Research, Science and Innovation. I was told by her office that I would be getting a reply by the end of that week; there was no reply by the end of that week. Then, what I noticed, on 11 May, very quietly, the website was updated to allow research and development companies in the pre-revenue phase to access the wage subsidy scheme. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000353\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002258eae615-ef83-4df5-bace-6749bdd312a8\u0022\u003ESo during this COVID-19 crisis, we on this side have been working with the Government. We have been trying our best, but from their side it\u2019s been all politics\u2014just politics. So that became part of Budget 2020. I didn\u2019t get a reply from the Minister\u2019s office about that. Actually, I\u2019m really happy that now that the start-up R \u0026amp; D sector in the pre-revenue phase is able to access the wage subsidy scheme, but it took us so much effort to contact the Minister and get a response. I didn\u2019t get a response, but in terms of resolving the issue, that has been resolved. They had to wait until this Budget 2020 for this issue to be resolved. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000354\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002258eae615-ef83-4df5-bace-6749bdd312a8\u0022\u003EThe second issue I would like to talk about is vaccine research by our scientists here in New Zealand. Our scientists have been begging\u2014actually begging\u2014to this Government. They have been asking for $10 million so that they can do this research, so that they can join the global effort to develop a vaccine. This Government kept dismissing their call\u2014yes, they kept dismissing their call. It was the last week of April, when I called on the Government to support our scientists to develop a vaccine. We should understand that vaccine development goes through several phases, and it\u2019s not a successful vaccine until it has finished all those phases successfully and is available for intervention. So our scientists were lagging behind. They kept asking this Government to give them the $10 million to start that work, and, finally, they were so fed up that they started their work without that funding. So in Budget 2020, that money was given, but we can see all around the world Governments have been so proactive in supporting their scientists, and we didn\u2019t see that from this Government here in New Zealand. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000355\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002258eae615-ef83-4df5-bace-6749bdd312a8\u0022\u003ESo the question is, does this Government actually trust our scientists? I\u2019m really worried about our scientific community because we don\u2019t want to lose these scientists to other economies. It\u2019s quite disappointing, the way this Government has treated our scientific community. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000356\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002258eae615-ef83-4df5-bace-6749bdd312a8\u0022\u003EThere are so many other issues that I would like to talk about. The next issue, in this limited time, is the loan scheme that they have announced, but we know that this sector doesn\u2019t need\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022 data-id=\u00229f6570fb7c684d98bf1583fe6f5821f3\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000357\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00229f6570fb7c684d98bf1583fe6f5821f3\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: Order! The member\u2019s time has expired.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022 data-id=\u00221b4bfed4d6464549b9bb6f8cfde5a5f8\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000358\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221b4bfed4d6464549b9bb6f8cfde5a5f8\u0022\u003EHon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO (Minister for Pacific Peoples):\u003C/span\u003E COVID-19 highlighted the amazing power of technology and how important that power is to enabling Pacific economic development by staying connected, by staying engaged, and by informing our people. We were able to reach out to people and to the regions right across New Zealand and were able to stay in touch with them without having to leave the safety of our living rooms or offices. At every online meeting I held with Pacific peoples\u2014whether it was with residents of the main metropolitan centres of Auckland or Christchurch, or with people out in the regional economies of Palmerston North, Gisborne, Hastings, or Whanganui, or even online meetings with our community elders and church leaders nationwide, or with my political friends and colleagues from across the vast Pacific blue region\u2014the response and feedback I consistently received from them, unsolicited, has always been, \u201CPlease give Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and all the Government Ministers our thanks and our appreciation.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000359\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EPacific peoples value good leadership, they value kind leadership, compassionate leadership, humorous leadership, but, ultimately, genuine leadership. This is the kind of leadership that Pacific people see our Prime Minister consistently exhibit. It is her leadership that is supported by all Government Ministers and very much respected by her coalition partners, New Zealand First and the Greens. Pacific communities right across New Zealand recognise that our Prime Minister has led a decisive health response to COVID-19, and that decisive response has saved lives and positioned New Zealand for a strong economic recovery.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000360\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EMy elders often say, \u201CE iloa le laau i ona fua.\u201D, meaning every tree is known by the fruits they bear. I compare the fruits of our Prime Minister\u2019s decisive, strong, and compassionate leadership to what we now currently have: where New Zealand have had no new COVID-19 cases in the last 11 days. She has always credited\u2014and I endorse\u2014the contribution of 5 million New Zealanders, the efforts of our officials, and also the work of our Ministers and Cabinet. But the leadership role and the responsibility of the prime ministership fall squarely on her shoulders, and she carries that responsibility alone, and she has done an amazing job of it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000361\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EOur incredible health response has positioned New Zealand well for a strong economic recovery. I want to acknowledge the amazing role of Grant Robertson in the role that he has played in making sure that we allocate $50 billion in the COVID-19 fund in Budget 2020 to respond, to recover, and to rebuild New Zealand\u2019s economy. We\u2019ve seen it: the health response, our support for businesses, our support for the workforce, and our support for the most vulnerable in our communities. Our plan to rebuild New Zealand is to protect jobs, to create new jobs, and prepare all New Zealanders for new employment and business opportunities to get New Zealand moving forward. Our coalition Government wants to make sure, as part of that overall package, that Pacific peoples don\u2019t miss out on employment and that business opportunities and are not left behind.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000362\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EThe Pacific package of $195 million in Budget 2020\u2014part of that bigger overall Government approach\u2014is an unprecedented amount of targeted spending that\u2019s absolutely essential so that Pacific peoples don\u2019t miss out during the recovery and rebuilding phase. The patterns of past economic downturns have seen Pacific peoples become the first to be hit and the last to recover, and we don\u2019t want to see that pattern repeated. We know the challenges our families face. We know the barriers Pacific peoples experience. We know about the inequities our children face, and COVID-19 highlighted all those inequities and barriers for everyone to see, but I want to acknowledge the response of this Government. I acknowledge Grant Robertson and the support of all Government Ministers right across the board, and especially my Pacific ministerial colleagues for their ongoing efforts of support in our Pacific response, and recovery, to COVID-19 in Budget 2020.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000363\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EOur targeted approach for Pasifika, as well as for M\u0101ori, is evidence-based. It will help eliminate, over time, the barriers and inequities we face, and significantly contribute to New Zealand\u2019s recovery and rebuild. The targeted approach is about recognising that the rebuilding of our Pacific economy requires us to work with everyone. That requires Government agencies trusting our communities to know what wellbeing means for themselves and that our communities have the capability to play a vital role\u2014in fact, the leading role\u2014in our economic recovery work. Right from the outset, we have worked, on this side of the House, hard to establish a genuine partnership between this Government and the wider Pacific community of Aotearoa. We acknowledge that New Zealand is a Pacific nation and that we\u2019re an integral member of the Pacific family within the vast, blue, Pacific context. Both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister have worked hard\u2014including the Minister of Defence\u2014to maintain these links and lift our relationship to a higher level of cooperation and collaboration with Pacific countries. After all, we have a sizable Pacific diaspora that have strong historic and family links with the Pacific region.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000364\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EWe increased funding to the Ministry for Pacific Peoples to unprecedented levels to build up their capacity to reach out and engage with one of the youngest and fastest-growing population groups in New Zealand, and to work across the whole-of-Government agencies. We captured Pacific people\u2019s dreams and aspirations for a new vision by engaging with them right across New Zealand, and deliberately targeted at the view of our young people. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000365\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EPacific people see themselves as being confident peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand and leading in so many different ways, often unseen and unrecognised. Pacific peoples see themselves and their families as thriving, resilient, and prosperous, but they see all of this from a Pacific lens, where language and culture provides confidence in one\u2019s identity and one\u2019s world view, where economic prosperity goes hand in hand with collective responsibility to one\u2019s aiga and community, where health and wellness isn\u2019t just about physical health, but also includes emotional and spiritual wellbeing, and our young people are seen not as they are now, but we see them for what they will become, \u201CGeneration 6 Bs\u201D: people who are proudly brown, brainy, beautiful, bilingual, bicultural, and bold.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000366\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EWith support from the Minister of Finance and Treasury, we were able to confirm that Pacific peoples of Aotearoa contribute $8 billion to New Zealand\u2019s GDP\u2014this is despite the barriers and inequities Pacific peoples face in housing, health, and education. Our collective challenge is to envision a future where these barriers and these inequalities are eliminated, and our Pacific package starts to go someplace, begins the work to reaffirm and confirm those foundations of a targeted approach, which helps us towards the right direction in removing those inequities and those barriers.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000367\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003ESo under this Budget, our Pacific Ministers approach is important, our Pacific languages and cultures kept our people safe. By providing that information in nine different languages, we will continue that work. We will continue the work around home ownership, and make sure that we lock in that goal of home ownership for future generations, and we begin to start the work through financial literacy and debt management, and making sure we unlock some of the land that sits with our churches and community organisations.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000368\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EWe\u2019re going to increase investment into the sciences, technology, and mathematics. One of the things is a digital economy accelerator to offer up the opportunities for new jobs and for new business opportunities. We\u2019re providing wraparound support right across the whole country in Tupu Aotearoa, making sure that wraparound support is provided to staircase people into further education or new job opportunities. That\u2019s just some of what this package has.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000369\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022b398827c-6bf5-403e-90dc-ff03205302a5\u0022\u003EI just want to finish off. The Pacific package in Budget 2020 is a recovery package that sets us up for the rebuilding phase. It is about jobs, it\u2019s about new jobs, it\u2019s about sustainable jobs, it\u2019s about high-earning jobs, it\u2019s about jobs that provide dignity, it\u2019s about jobs that put food on the table, and it gives confidence and security to families so they don\u2019t have to be worried about the landlord, they don\u2019t have to be worried about paying for the bills\u2014that\u2019s what Budget 2020 offers the Pacific community as part of that overall package. This approach has never been done before. That lot there can crow about what they did, but it\u2019s nothing compared to what this Government has done by investing wisely, by investing based on evidence, by giving charge to our people, recognising Pacific peoples are able and capable of leading their own recovery work for the benefit of all people\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022 data-id=\u00220e5a044a8a4a4686a0765a9fd1b43af1\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000370\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00220e5a044a8a4a4686a0765a9fd1b43af1\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: Order! The member\u2019s time has expired. I understand this is a split call. I call Brett Hudson\u2014five minutes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022 data-id=\u00223a1adf52db784e2082bb67af4d648af5\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000371\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00223a1adf52db784e2082bb67af4d648af5\u0022\u003EBRETT HUDSON (National):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Speaker. Well, this Budget\u2014this Budget. The centrepiece of this Budget is the complete absence of any plan: lots and lots of headline numbers\u2014some eye-wateringly large numbers, like an additional $140 billion of borrowing\u2014an economy heading into a crisis with jobs going in their tens of thousands, and the Government presents a lot of money and no plan.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000372\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022\u003ENow, that won\u2019t come as too much of a surprise to New Zealanders, because for the past 2\u00BD years, they\u2019ve shown they don\u2019t have a plan, and they haven\u2019t even been able to deliver on that. I mean, KiwiBuild, anyone? Three hundred and ninety homes isn\u2019t exactly close to 100,000 in anyone\u2019s books. In fact, there was a report last week that said if KiwiBuild were to continue on its current trajectory, it would take about 430 years to deliver those 100,000 homes. The really interesting question that raises is which would be finished first: the 100,000th KiwiBuild home or Auckland\u2019s light rail? Given the Hon Phil Twyford\u2019s track record, I\u2019d put my money on the KiwiBuild homes, quite frankly.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000373\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022\u003ESo, no plan at all, but there was a $20 billion slush fund, an eye-wateringly large amount of money in New Zealanders\u2019 eyes with nothing tagged to what it will be used for and, more importantly, what it will actually achieve. The Government just set about giving itself enormous spending power to go along with the enormous governance power it gave itself just a couple of weeks ago with the COVID-19 Public Health Response Bill, which gives it all the powers it might want under the sun. I\u2019m reminded of something that a famous civil libertarian\u2014P J O\u2019Rourke\u2014said. He said, \u201CGiving money and power to Government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.\u201D Without a plan, it can\u2019t possibly end well.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000374\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022\u003ENow, it\u2019s not all going to be a brickbat. I will mention something that the Government did do in the middle of the COVID crisis which is very worthy\u2014in fact, at the beginning of the COVID crisis\u2014to give them some credit. The wage subsidy, as an immediate response to an oncoming economic disaster, has meant that some businesses have been able to retain employees and, importantly for those employees, they\u2019ve had some confidence that they can still pay the bills. But what the Government has shown consistently through the lockdown and again in the Budget is they don\u2019t understand business and they don\u2019t understand the full pressures that come on businesses in times such as these.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000375\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022\u003ESo, yes, they put in the wage subsidy, and that was a great start and a great help, particularly for those affected workers, but the wage bill is not the only bill a business faces. In the midst of lockdown, businesses still had to pay their leases. They still had to pay their taxes. They still had to pay electricity and all other forms of regulatory cost impost that, among other things, this Government has layered upon them over the last couple of years. The bills still came in the door, and the Government showed a complete reluctance to do anything to offer direct assistance for those businesses to help them survive so they could thrive in a well-organised recovery that a National-led Government would offer. That\u2019s a real shame, because it\u2019s one thing to give an almost facade or a safety net of a wage subsidy, but if those jobs don\u2019t exist when the subsidy ends, how are those workers helped then?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000376\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022\u003EThe complete lack of the supports that businesses need right now to keep going is a hallmark of this Government and the governing parties\u2019 lack of understanding of commerce and of business. Along the way, the Opposition offered some very constructive ideas: a GST cash-back system. The six months to the end of December last year, getting a cash back for GST paid would immediately pump cash flow into those businesses to help keep them alive. The depreciation model would encourage investment. The JobStart that our leader, Todd Muller, announced last week would all help to keep businesses going and to give them incentives to grow as soon as possible amidst uncertainty.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000377\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002203fd985b-4fb8-4111-ba38-5033a254d962\u0022\u003EI\u2019d just like to finish by saying the police appropriations in the Budget are a huge disappointment\u2014barely enough extra to cover inflation, not enough to fund things like mental health projects, and not enough to do the things we need to do. This Budget is a complete failure and a lack of a plan.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022 data-id=\u00226a21269bbd9c4f1e9a541083693cf484\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000378\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00226a21269bbd9c4f1e9a541083693cf484\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: Order! The member\u2019s time has expired. I call Simeon Brown\u2014five minutes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002255d0b7a4-a2c9-4c38-9b77-475311a48a89\u0022 data-id=\u002260c18ada182f4afbb81192fd14637283\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000379\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255d0b7a4-a2c9-4c38-9b77-475311a48a89\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002260c18ada182f4afbb81192fd14637283\u0022\u003ESIMEON BROWN (National\u2014Pakuranga):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Speaker. I\u2019d like to start my Budget reply speech by just acknowledging New Zealanders for what they have done in fighting COVID-19, because COVID-19 is what is the backdrop to this Budget. The Government claims that it went hard and it went early, but it is New Zealanders who have done the hard yards and who have paid the price. Today, I\u2019d like to acknowledge the businesses in my electorate who shut their doors during the lockdown, people who\u2019ve lost their jobs, people who couldn\u2019t be with their loved ones as they passed away, and those who had operations or scans or medical appointments that were cancelled or were postponed. These are the people who have paid the heavy price of fighting COVID-19.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000380\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255d0b7a4-a2c9-4c38-9b77-475311a48a89\u0022\u003EAnd now we\u2019ve got a Budget which was meant to be a plan, but there is no plan. And what more could demonstrate that more than the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister disagreeing over whether we should be in level 1 or not. Just yesterday, we had thousands of people protesting with no contact tracing, with no physical distancing in the middle of Queen Street, and we had thousands of people protesting\u2014and I believe they\u2019ve got a right to protest, but we have a Government which doesn\u2019t have a plan and can\u2019t make a decision over when we\u2019re going to allow people to have these freedoms back. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000381\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255d0b7a4-a2c9-4c38-9b77-475311a48a89\u0022\u003EWe have, now, a Government which has introduced a Budget which is spending more money than has ever been spent before, borrowing up to $200 billion\u2014$200 billion. A Government which believes money grows on trees\u2014of course, native trees! Unemployment which will lead up to 9.8 percent, negative GDP of 4.6 percent, and a thousand people losing their jobs every single day. With such sobering facts as this, a plan is what was needed. But, instead, we get a slush fund of $20 billion for the Government to be able to go out and spend on campaign promises leading into the election. No plan for small businesses, no plan for job creation, money still going towards projects like KiwiBuild\u2014which hasn\u2019t been able to build houses\u2014and fees-free for students, which hasn\u2019t been able to increase participation rates through\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000382\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022dbaac12b-3efa-4d95-a08d-f0f637a48bab\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221c3f6d67ebbb4c9eaac4dea815d1b3ca\u0022\u003EChl\u00F6e Swarbrick\u003C/span\u003E: Has reduced debt.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000383\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255d0b7a4-a2c9-4c38-9b77-475311a48a89\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002252f37bc79340443ca06e3a44c48e8f37\u0022\u003ESIMEON BROWN\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014our universities. This is a Government which\u2014and I hear Chl\u00F6e Swarbrick; $20 million for students but $175 million for the arts; $20 million for students but $75 million for racing. Let\u2019s put the facts on the table when we speak.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000384\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255d0b7a4-a2c9-4c38-9b77-475311a48a89\u0022\u003EI\u2019d like to also comment about the impact this has on my electorate of Pakuranga. We\u2019ve been promised $3 billion for the shovel-ready initiative\u2014$3 billion. Councils up and down the country have spent their lockdown talking about what would be on their wish list if they could have some of this shovel-ready money. Well, I believe it was around $132 billion of projects that was put together by councils up and down the country. One such project put forward by Auckland Council was the Eastern Busway, a critical piece of infrastructure in my electorate, in Pakuranga, a shovel-ready project that also includes a road as well. So I\u2019m very pleased with that\u2014the Reeves Road flyover\u2014and the busway. I\u2019m very multi-modal over here! It\u2019s a multi-modal project. It\u2019s also got a cycleway, just in case; walking as well. It\u2019s going to improve public transportation. It\u2019s going to cut congestion for people in my electorate, and it\u2019s an excellent initiative, but Auckland Council also has a crisis when it comes to money, and they\u2019ve now had to announce in their emergency budget that they\u2019re cutting $20 million from the Eastern Busway because the Government has not yet announced what they will be funding or what they will not be funding through the shovel-ready projects. Twenty million dollars will be gutted if the Government doesn\u2019t come to the party and actually commit to this project through the shovel-ready projects initiative.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000385\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255d0b7a4-a2c9-4c38-9b77-475311a48a89\u0022\u003ESo my question to the Government is: when is that announcement going to be made? Are they going to wait until Auckland Council has made their decision around what the rate increase is? Is this some sort of cynical ploy to delay the decision on shovel-ready to enforce Aucklanders to accept a higher rates increase, whilst putting in front of them an option of slashing capital expenditure? The Government needs to come to the party so that Aucklanders have the certainty\u2014and Auckland Council has the certainty\u2014when making these decisions, so we don\u2019t have to slash projects and then wait for the Government to come and backfill it with their shovel-ready projects later on.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000386\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002255d0b7a4-a2c9-4c38-9b77-475311a48a89\u0022\u003EThis Budget has no plan, and whatever initiatives they do have in here, their track record proves they will not be able to deliver on them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022 data-id=\u002262aad02b3692459692e087ab249bb2d6\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000387\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002262aad02b3692459692e087ab249bb2d6\u0022\u003EHon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister for M\u0101ori Development):\u003C/span\u003E E Te Kaiwhakaw\u0101, t\u0113n\u0101 koe. T\u0101tou katoa e huihui mai nei, t\u0113n\u0101 t\u0101tou. There\u2019s a saying amongst my people, and it goes something like this: \u201CKi te kotahi te k\u0101kaho, ka whati, ki te k\u0101puia e kore e whati.\u201D\u2014when a reed stands alone, it can be easily broken, but, bound together, it is unbreakable. I want to thank the team of 5 million New Zealanders who have contributed to an effort where today we can say it\u2019s the 11th day with no confirmed new COVID cases. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000388\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EThat didn\u2019t happen by accident, because we\u2019re talking about the 2020 Budget, which was born out of a specific context. We\u2019ve been talking about it all afternoon in this House. What the Government had to do over the last few weeks was respond to a global pandemic in a New Zealand way: four weeks of lockdown, two weeks of level 3, heading into the second week of level 2, and contemplating where we go to from here. But, if we take the signals in terms of the way in which the Government responded and continues to respond to a global pandemic, we put the health of New Zealanders first. Why? Because we know that the health of our economy relies on the health of our people, and we weren\u2019t going to compromise that simple action. That\u2019s why, even though the measures have been very strong and we acted quickly and swiftly to ensure that they were strong and decisive, we knew that if we could get on top of what the impacts were here in New Zealand, New Zealanders in the long run would be better-off for it and so would our economy, and that\u2019s the context within which the Hon Grant Robertson set this Budget. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000389\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s a unique Budget because we have the circumstances and the impacts of COVID19. But what I can say is that throughout New Zealand in our communities, even today, Kiwis are kind to one another. They are shopping locally. They understand the pressures that have been impacted on by individuals, communities, and across our communities in various different ways. I want to thank the essential workers also. They were quick to respond. In the M\u0101ori communities, our M\u0101ori health providers, Wh\u0101nau Ora health providers, again were quick to stand beside the civil defence emergency groups to say we will put our hand up and act quickly to ensure that there is a welfare response. I also want to thank the local government sector because they too provided the essential services that, as we move through the alert levels, are a key part of the recovery. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000390\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003ENow, this Budget is very simple in its intent. As we have observed, the response and the need to respond to the health needs and the impacts of the pandemic here in New Zealand and build up the strength of the health system\u2014early vaccinations, more testing, the capacity to be able to do contact tracing, and ensuring that we have a health system that will not be overwhelmed were a second wave to occur\u2014we are ready. But then we\u2019re also in a position now to say that, as we move down the alert levels and plea to New Zealanders for vigilance around observing still our health-related expectations in the way a new normal is created, we must turn our minds to the economy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000391\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EActually, there is a plan, because that plan was rolled out right from the first week of lockdown, when a wage subsidy scheme was introduced, and that was a clear signal we recognise that businesses are struggling and we will step in\u2014not back; in and forward. We extended that wage subsidy scheme. We\u2019ve got a small-business package that is able to support those businesses that many members across this House talk about but we care about. We\u2019re also ensuring, in practical ways, that we are supporting communities to be able to build their resilience to create what this new normal starts to look like. When I think about the plan that we\u2019re talking about, it\u2019s one that involves people and communities. It\u2019s one by sector that we\u2019re making sure we\u2019re responding to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000392\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EBut I take a point that was made by Grant Robertson in his Budget speech. It\u2019s about protecting jobs, and that was in the early quick response. It\u2019s about creating jobs. I want to thank all the various sector stakeholders who contacted members of the Government to actually identify what the issues were going forward as we were creating a recovery plan. They told us very clearly how they thought the sector could pivot and what the impacts might be foreshadowed for the next two years\u2014as borders may or may not be continued to be locked down\u2014but also gave us solutions. Those are the things that Ministers and members of the Government have been engaging with so that we could continue to emphasise our role in being able to support the creation of jobs.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000393\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EThen there\u2019s the sustaining of jobs. Now, what we heard today from Minister Chris Hipkins\u2014and what we\u2019ve been doing in terms of signalling our intent around apprenticeship training, cadetships, trade training schools\u2014is those are all fertile areas where many, many New Zealanders, young and old, will benefit from the Government\u2019s investment, because we know that in order to prepare New Zealanders for the impacts of COVID-19, now is the time to invest in skills training for the new economies that are emerging, which many members on the Government side have talked about.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000394\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003ELet me come to the M\u0101ori budget. I want to commend ministerial colleagues. Firstly, in the area of jobs, and sitting next to me is the Minister of Employment. He\u2019s been really clear that we\u2019ve got to get alongside industry and we\u2019ve got to get along specific sectors like forestry, like agriculture, and like horticulture to be able to support them to pick up our young people. That\u2019s why growing job opportunities across those sectors through He Poutama Rangatahi and Mana in Mahi are going to be really valuable investments.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000395\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EThen take my colleague the Hon Peeni Henare. As I said earlier, the first groups to put their hand up to say \u201CWe will help in a welfare response\u201D were M\u0101ori health providers, Wh\u0101nau Ora providers. The increase in the Budget in that area will enable those providers to continue their work with some of the most vulnerable and challenged members of our communities and strengthen the ability of those providers to be able to support where it\u2019s needed most. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000396\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EThen we\u2019ve got a real focus on culture and identity, because we do believe, here on this side of the House, that the core of an economic recovery is what makes us unique and different\u2014our language, our culture, and our stories to our places and things like that. So Minister Davis, in particular in the area of education, through the gains in the Budget, I believe will make a strong contribution in this area.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000397\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EIn my own area, supporting a M\u0101ori housing strategy and housing outcomes will definitely make a difference. But here\u2019s the thing: when we go out into our communities, it\u2019s that and it\u2019s doubling the winter energy payment as we\u2019re heading into winter. Those are the things that people respond to and have reacted to very positively. But, in the M\u0101ori housing space, we know that if we can give people the security of housing, the ability to move from homelessness up the housing ladder, perhaps to homeownership\u2014building public supply of housing\u2014that is going to make a critical difference as the economy starts to turn over. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000398\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EThere are so many good things to talk about, but I just want to come back to this single point. You would think, on that side of the House, that New Zealand was the only Government facing these issues; this is a global pandemic. Every country has had to close their borders in order to respond. Every business in many countries have had to come to the same point of grappling with the challenges\u2014do they pivot, do they hibernate, or what? Do they substitute the work that they are doing\u2014their business that they have? What we\u2019ve signalled very clearly is that the backbone of our economy actually helps to sustain our export-led focus. We want that to thrive and survive. It\u2019s important that the small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) package that our team are leading is able to help businesses in a practical way move towards what that new normal looks like. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000399\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EWe\u2019re being very active in that area. There are so many things that Minister Nash has brought in that help to provide relief for the SME sector that I know. If any of the feedback from many colleagues on this side of the House is anything to go by, they have valued the way in which we have continued to be agile to support what we believe will continue to be the backbone of the New Zealand economy, and that\u2019s our SME sector.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000400\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00220e7e8da2-a6a1-41bb-aeb0-a49be255a293\u0022\u003EI want to end on this one simple point, and it is this\u2014and it goes back, actually, to what the Prime Minister said all along: if we take care of the health of our people, then the health of our economy can continue to thrive in a way that we will be more confident, more resilient, and able to rely on each other in our deepest, darkest time of need. I think there\u2019s something in that\u2014I think there\u2019s something in that. I believe that is the case because, as I move around New Zealand, people do respect the way in which leadership was shown on an issue where there was no room to dither\u2014you had to be decisive. That\u2019s why I\u2019m proud to support the Budget 2020 that has been outlined by the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, and our Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022 data-id=\u00225b15562d20ba4c6f88b96e104b47883e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000401\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00225b15562d20ba4c6f88b96e104b47883e\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Ruth Dyson)\u003C/span\u003E: The next call is a split call, I\u2019m advised. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a6c42c44-3622-4c9c-98b8-793fb5ec15cc\u0022 data-id=\u002236f6d3ba49f74b11904ffbb700a2b1b9\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000402\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a6c42c44-3622-4c9c-98b8-793fb5ec15cc\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002236f6d3ba49f74b11904ffbb700a2b1b9\u0022\u003EIAN McKELVIE (National\u2014Rangit\u012Bkei):\u003C/span\u003E Madam Speaker, thank you. I came to the House this afternoon with a preconceived idea of what I was going to talk about, but having listened to a bit of what\u2019s going on and thinking about life, as you do, I thought I\u2019d talk about something a little different. But it certainly relates to the Budget and where we\u2019re at with COVID-19. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000403\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a6c42c44-3622-4c9c-98b8-793fb5ec15cc\u0022\u003EI think that one of the things we seldom think of is\u2014I\u2019m almost of the generation that we shut the country down to save, frankly, and I\u2019m not sure why. But the issue I\u2019ve got with it is that I\u2019ve spent a lifetime, and I\u2019m sure hundreds and thousands of people like me have spent a lifetime, working for future generations of New Zealanders. We don\u2019t really work for ourselves, because we had the start in life we had and whatever we made of it, we made of it. But we spend our lives working for the future generations of New Zealanders. And the thing that most concerns us, and I think it certainly concerns me, is: who\u2019s going to pay the bill? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000404\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a6c42c44-3622-4c9c-98b8-793fb5ec15cc\u0022\u003EThe funny thing, or the sad thing, about it is that the very people that we set out to save in the process of shutting the country down\u2014and I\u2019ve got no question that that was probably necessary\u2014are never going to pay the bill. I think that one of the things that is most concerning for many New Zealanders of my age and older is that they\u2019ve seen this before and they worry about who\u2019s going to pay the bill to fix these things.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000405\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a6c42c44-3622-4c9c-98b8-793fb5ec15cc\u0022\u003EI think that\u2019s why we have such a concern about what we spend our money on and how we spend it in the course of the recovery. So it\u2019s one of those unintended consequences that I\u2019m sure was never really\u2014and we certainly probably didn\u2019t have time to think about that. But it is an issue that I think is very important and it\u2019s very important to the older people of New Zealand\u2014many of whom probably were saved by the actions of the Government\u2014and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s something that we\u2019ve given enough credit to in this House. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000406\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a6c42c44-3622-4c9c-98b8-793fb5ec15cc\u0022\u003EThere\u2019s no question that the volatility and uncertainty caused by where we find our economy, where many, many of our constituents and people in New Zealand find themselves, in a place they never expected to be\u2014and I think that\u2019s one of the things that we\u2019re going to have to manage very carefully as we move forward from here. I think that because of the volatility, uncertainty, and the unintended consequences, actually, of a lot of what\u2019s happened, we need to be extraordinarily agile in our response to some of these things and we need to move very quickly.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000407\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a6c42c44-3622-4c9c-98b8-793fb5ec15cc\u0022\u003EThere\u2019s simple things, like you would have never expected, that out of the shutdown of the\u2014well, basically the world economy\u2014you\u2019d end up with a surplus of potatoes in the world, for example. So you\u2019ve got this massive glut of potatoes, which was something you would have never thought of. Our fishing industry: half of it has done OK out of the business; half of it has basically shut down because the fish and chip shops were shut. So these are the unintended consequences and things that are going to put pressure on small sectors of our economy. So you look at the fishing industry, for example, and you think it\u2019s OK, but there\u2019s a small sector\u2014and not such a small sector of it\u2014that\u2019s been hugely hit by the challenges of this.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000408\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a6c42c44-3622-4c9c-98b8-793fb5ec15cc\u0022\u003EThe other thing about the potato challenge, of course, is that we may well end up with no potatoes being planted in New Zealand. If the glut of potato products arrives in New Zealand\u2014because they\u2019ll ship them around the world as quick as they can\u2014you may well find we have no potatoes planted, and the unintended consequence of that is that the price of potatoes in a year\u2019s time will be massive; we might end up in the Irish famine.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000409\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a6c42c44-3622-4c9c-98b8-793fb5ec15cc\u0022\u003ESo I think that as we move to recover from this situation we find ourselves in, the Government needs to be extraordinarily careful how they load costs on industry and business and how they manage the process of change\u2014because I don\u2019t question that change is necessary, and there\u2019s never been a good crisis when there wasn\u2019t huge opportunity. There\u2019ll be huge opportunity for our food producers, for example, to change the way they do things, to improve the way they do things, and to create new products, and I think that\u2019s exciting. But if more and more costs are loaded on to those food producers, it\u2019s going to be very difficult for them to progress that in the short term.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000410\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a6c42c44-3622-4c9c-98b8-793fb5ec15cc\u0022\u003EI think the same thing applies, interestingly, to our forestry. So we talk about the billion trees and the need to plant trees. At the same time, we\u2019re putting legislation into the House under urgency, which impacts on the profitability and the incentive to plant trees, frankly, for a lot of tree growers, because they\u2019ll be concerned about the sort of impact that could have on them. So there are a whole lot of things that I think we need to consider very carefully. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000411\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a6c42c44-3622-4c9c-98b8-793fb5ec15cc\u0022\u003EThe last thing I want to very briefly mention is the racing industry, which was probably one of the industries most seriously damaged by the shutdown, because the whole of the industry shut down and so there was no activity at all, no income coming into it, and 16,000-odd people out of work\u2014well, not out of work but unable to work. That\u2019s a massive impact. I think that there are industries like that that have had this massive impact and that need all the support they can get to get them going again because they are an equally important part of the New Zealand economy as any other industry of $1.6 billion to $2 billion. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000412\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a6c42c44-3622-4c9c-98b8-793fb5ec15cc\u0022\u003ESo I think that the message I bring with this speech is that we need to be extraordinarily careful where we load costs on, how we manage the recovery, and how we look after small sectors of our bigger sectors who have got into trouble when the bigger sector looks OK. Thank you, Madam Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f96cdca1-b63c-4602-b2b3-276f58ebb518\u0022 data-id=\u0022d9a0b48539a54b0781a30a5a55a985c1\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000413\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f96cdca1-b63c-4602-b2b3-276f58ebb518\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022d9a0b48539a54b0781a30a5a55a985c1\u0022\u003ECHRIS PENK (National\u2014Helensville):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Madam Speaker. Good to have the opportunity to speak in this, the Budget debate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000414\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f96cdca1-b63c-4602-b2b3-276f58ebb518\u0022\u003EThe word \u201Cunprecedented\u201D gets bandied about a lot these days. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000415\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022eae5ff79acd94a999dafb96b50ec038a\u0022\u003ETim van de Molen\u003C/span\u003E: An unprecedented number of times.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000416\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f96cdca1-b63c-4602-b2b3-276f58ebb518\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e858ac0ab6e349d08a97ddcc5d4769bb\u0022\u003ECHRIS PENK\u003C/span\u003E: An unprecedented number of times, says Mr van de Molen, thereby threatening to send me down a meta spiral of unprecedented speech-making. However, I think it\u2019s worth assessing. Even just on the health side of things the pandemic has been unprecedented in the sense that we haven\u2019t ever had one since the last one. And in a funny way, there\u2019s nothing more expected, at least as a matter of fact, if not timing and nature, than a health crisis and a pandemic. So it behoves all Governments\u2014and I make this point with no particular partisanship\u2014to be well prepared for such events. Of course, part of that means learning from the ones that we are experiencing at the moment. To that end, in the spirit of helpfulness, I would like to examine some of the lessons that we can learn\u2014I say, particularly the Government, because they have been the decision makers, of course, in the way of things. But I would like them to take on board\u2014and I say this on behalf of the Helensville electorate but also any other New Zealanders who might happen to agree with what I\u2019m saying\u2014the extent to which their response has not been unprecedented and the extent to which it has merely been a continuation of some of the themes that we\u2019ve had these past 2\u00BD years\u2014for example, the lack of delivery measured against their own promises. Of course, the discussion is in the context of the Budget, but it\u2019s part, again, of a bigger picture than that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000417\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f96cdca1-b63c-4602-b2b3-276f58ebb518\u0022\u003EI think one of the troublesome aspects of the Government\u2019s response has been a failure to acknowledge the seriousness of the decision making in relation to those who were affected in an employment context. The Minister of Employment, no less, the Hon Willie Jackson, described, at one point, the lockdown as having been brilliant. There was a general message that was emanating from the Government, at the time, that we didn\u2019t initially transition from level 4 to level 3, as had been widely expected at that time, that the delay was merely a further two business days, rather than seeing that an extra five calendar days would have afforded five days\u2019 worth of opportunity for businesses that had been struggling greatly under the yoke of lockdown to be able to try and get back up and running. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000418\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f96cdca1-b63c-4602-b2b3-276f58ebb518\u0022\u003EOf course, a certain amount of lockdown was necessary. I don\u2019t think anyone in this House or, indeed, across the country would deny that. I don\u2019t wish to over-emphasise to the point that I lose that fundamental aspect of acknowledgment that the Government has made some good decisions along the way. If we are to learn from the lessons, and if the response is not to be unprecedented in a way that is negative, then we do need to look pretty hard at ourselves as a Parliament, and the Government, of course, in terms of the decisions that it has been making.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000419\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f96cdca1-b63c-4602-b2b3-276f58ebb518\u0022\u003ELooking now, in the future, in the present and into the future, in the context of the Budget, when the Government is looking for solutions to help businesses\u2014and the reason I emphasise businesses, of course, is that it is they who employ people, including the self-employed, as well as those who work in a larger employment context\u2014if they\u2019re looking for solutions to help businesses get back on their feet, a good place to start would be in the mirror\u2014which isn\u2019t to say that the individuals on the Government benches have all the answers; I think none of us do\u2014and to see, staring back at them, those who have the power in their hands to make life better for businesses by stopping constraining their ability to trade their way out of difficulty. Sometimes the best help that can be given is for the hindrance to stop. The answer, in that sense, is hiding in plain sight. It is the case that for businesses who are labouring under level 2 as opposed to level 1, after 11 straight days of no new cases, the best help that could be given is for them to return to life as somewhat normal. That, paradoxically, would be an extraordinary thing. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000420\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f96cdca1-b63c-4602-b2b3-276f58ebb518\u0022\u003EI\u2019ll finish with a note about shovel-ready projects, so-called, in the area that I represent. Along with many other areas, a large number of projects have been prioritised. I\u2019m reminded of that classic line from Gilbert and Sullivan, \u201CWhen everybody is somebody, nobody is anybody.\u201D So when all the projects have been prioritised, none of them are ahead of the other ones, and what we\u2019re left with is actually delays, being behind schedule, even as we were before the crisis hit. So things are not going well in many parts of the area, in a way that is indeed unprecedented and if the Government can learn the lessons from that and start delivering on its promises better than it has been, that indeed would be unprecedented but in a positive way,\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022 data-id=\u0022ea0471efe2e04d4fbee4178b47817ad7\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000421\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022ea0471efe2e04d4fbee4178b47817ad7\u0022\u003EHon RON MARK (Minister of Defence):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise in response to the conversation by the last member, Chris Penk, about the word \u201Cunprecedented\u201D. I have to say it gives me absolute pleasure and delight as the Minister for Veterans and the Minister of Defence to be able to speak on the 2020 Budget and, a little bit more broadly, on what we\u2019ve been able to do over the three years of this amazing term\u2014a term which, in defence circles, has already been labelled as the golden years for the New Zealand Defence Force, the Ministry of Defence (MOD), and veterans.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000422\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EI\u2019m very proud of this Government. I\u2019m very proud of the way in which they\u2019ve picked up the challenge and seen those challenges off. In the last three years, there have been some massive challenges confronting both New Zealand and our partners in the immediate region, more globally, and here domestically at home. At home, we\u2019ve faced things like the 15 March attack, the White Island disaster, Australian bushfires, and, most recently, Cyclone Harold in the Pacific, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the community, across the nation, across the world, the women and men of our Defence Force have served this nation loyally and professionally and proudly, and I am absolutely privileged to be their Minister.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000423\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EDuring these periods of uncertainty, one thing remains very clear, and that is that the Defence Force is prepared to respond to these events and the direction of Government. They\u2019re always prepared to respond, but very often they\u2019ve not been equipped to be able to respond in the way that they needed to; well, that\u2019s all changed.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000424\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EI want to take this opportunity, before I go any further, to congratulate the Defence Force on attaining their ranking in the Colmar Brunton poll as the second most trusted Government ministry, Government department. That\u2019s actually a goal that I\u2019d set for myself at the start of this term. It\u2019s nice to know we hit it before the three-year mark is up. It\u2019s no surprise to me, because it comes on the back of their dedication and their professionalism, as I said.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000425\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EIt pleases me that in Budget 2020, we\u2019ve been able to announce a substantial continued investment in defence and veterans. Budget 2020 has provided a boost of $1.77 billion in operating and capital funding to enable defence to continue to deliver on its outputs. With the strong backing of this coalition Government, we\u2019ve seen the greatest injection of defence funding in decades, with $4.3 billion in operating and capital funding allocated in total across the past three Budgets.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000426\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EWe\u2019ve allocated $676.5 million in additional Defence Force operating funding over four years. It\u2019s been allocated in Budget 2020 to support the delivery of the Strategic Defence Policy Statement, a policy statement that\u2019s been hailed internationally as the most forward-leaning and forward-reaching policy statement in New Zealand\u2019s history. This recognises the crucial role Defence plays in promoting the overall wellbeing, safety, security, and prosperity and resilience of our nation. They do this in the space, in the frame, of serving their community, serving the nation, and serving the world\u2014and I might add one more\u2014and playing their role in the protection of the environment and in the protection of our resources.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000427\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EThis year\u2019s Budget included $666.3 million of spending for the army, navy, and air force readiness and front-line capability, vital military enablers such as information communications technology, as well as much-needed defence estate maintenance across all the New Zealand Defence Force camps and bases. In fact, just recently I announced the $206 million being pumped into \u014Ch\u0101kea, just on infrastructure alone. That\u2019s aside from the total $2.4 billion that\u2019s going in there in air platforms, plus new infrastructure to cater for the P-8s. I want to highlight that $63.9 million of this funding is for defence estate maintenance and defence estate and infrastructure work, which is going to be crucial and which will provide a crucial boost in the regions as tradies pick up on those opportunities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000428\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EI\u2019ve got to say I found absolutely\u2014well, it was despairing for me, as a former soldier, to go to Wai\u014Duru, to walk into the very barracks that I went into as a 16-year-old soldier, and even the lino on the floor is still the same. The walls of the barracks, brown varnished: still the same. That does not reflect well on past Governments over the decades, who have not lived up to their part in looking after the women and the men who serve their nation\u2014and do so in some pretty austere and challenging roles and environments.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000429\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EThere\u2019s an additional $7.6 million, over four years, secured for the Ministry of Defence to meet increasing policy demands, to continue to maintain and develop what is becoming renown as an international example of how to manage projects, how to scope projects, and how to manage whole-of-life costings and manage some massive projects worth billions of dollars.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000430\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EA further $10.2 million is being provided to improve the Defence Force\u2019s internal security capability. Budget 2020 also contains contingent funding to support the delivery of the Defence Capability Plan 2019\u2014once again, a very forward-reaching capability plan, built on the back of the coalition agreement, whereby in this coalition Government, Labour agreed that we would review the last Government\u2019s capability plan and we\u2019d put some oomph into it. So we are looking forward down the line to seeing this country own its very first landing platform dock, which will be a heck of an asset when it comes to dealing with humanitarian disaster and relief operations, something that we\u2019re seeing more and more of as the climate has changed. The Defence Capability Plan\u2014I covered that. Moving on.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000431\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EInvestment in defence capabilities is critical to our national resilience, and, as I\u2019ve said, it\u2019s been deferred for far too long. Speaking of deferred far too long: Budget 2020 includes contingent capital funding of $898 million towards the replacement of New Zealand\u2019s ageing C-130H Hercules fleet with the new C-130J Super Hercs. As I\u2019ve previously said, this was my highest priority as the Minister of Defence. I\u2019ll just say that there\u2019ll be further details announced soon on that matter.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000432\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EVeterans: $840,000 being provided to Veterans\u2019 Affairs from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund to access information exchange systems, all aimed at improving health services to our veterans who fit in that very vulnerable group. Many of our veterans are over the age of 80, particularly the pre-1974 lot, entailing the Second World War. These are the vulnerable people. They deserve to have their services and their health cared for better than it has been in the past. This funding is going to be crucial to make that happen.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000433\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EIn terms of defence, veterans\u2019 budgets, and MOD, look, there\u2019s been a raft of announcements over these three years, so many that I started listing them here but I haven\u2019t got enough paper. Just recapping on the purchase of the four P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft; the purchase and delivery of the dive and hydrographic vessel HMNZS Manawanui for the navy; the doubling in size of the Limited Service Volunteer scheme; the ground support fleet vehicles for the army, navy, and air force that are replacing the light operational vehicles; looking into protected mobility as we step forward.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000434\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EThe frigate systems upgrade\u2014Labour and New Zealand First signed off on that business case being produced in 2007, when we were in coalition Government. Imagine my shock, my horror, when I become the Minister 10 years later and the project has not started. But no mind, it wasn\u2019t a big project; it was only about the protection, safety, and security of our navy, actually; about our ability to operate at Rimpac alongside of our strategic partners, with vessels that didn\u2019t need protecting in order to be able to be there. So, yes, we kicked off that massive project, and those vessels were in Canada. COVID off to one side, we would\u2019ve seen them back a bit earlier, but, you know, COVID has intervened in a way. But that was not a small project\u2014some $640 million pumped into that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000435\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EAdditional funding for Veterans\u2019 Affairs, new funding across Budgets 2018 and 2019 for defence estate regeneration\u2014overall indicative capital budget there in 2030 of $2.1 billion. That\u2019s an increase from what the previous Government set up\u2014it was $1.7 billion.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000436\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EI could go on. Suffice to say that, thanks to this coalition Government, the Defence Force is looking at being totally re-equipped, the air force totally rebuilt, the navy\u2014a six-year gap in capability with the loss of the dive and hydro vessels has been filled. We\u2019re looking down the line at a very bright future for the New Zealand Defence Force as they advance forward, picking up new capabilities, able to, with confidence, deploy into whatever theatre they are asked to deploy in. The Government should take some confidence and some heart knowing that we are deploying our women and our men with capabilities that will give them the highest surety of completing the missions safely and coming back home. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022 data-id=\u0022b073c7699b2142418bb3f79f4667dacf\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000437\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022b073c7699b2142418bb3f79f4667dacf\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Ruth Dyson)\u003C/span\u003E: The following call is a split call.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00221f651ff0-881f-4148-8631-0161f1c60f61\u0022 data-id=\u002285b8a8ed66ad45c18bab1a6c5e8af012\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000438\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221f651ff0-881f-4148-8631-0161f1c60f61\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002285b8a8ed66ad45c18bab1a6c5e8af012\u0022\u003EHAMISH WALKER (National\u2014Clutha-Southland):\u003C/span\u003E The previous speaker, the Hon Ron Mark, spoke about the brightness of the future. I just want to highlight that from a Clutha-Southland and Otago Southland perspective and look at what the Budget has done for my fine area. So let\u2019s have a look at that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000439\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221f651ff0-881f-4148-8631-0161f1c60f61\u0022\u003ELet\u2019s just set the scene for a minute of what\u2019s happened there for the last three or four months. If you take Te \u0100nau, a beautiful town in Fiordland, gateway to Milford Sound, we know in Milford Sound we have around about 130,000 visitors in the busier months per year. But Te \u0100nau, October to December last year, lost a number of days due to heavy weather; then the Chinese border shut in February; then they had the floods in February, which washed out Milford Road; and then we had COVID. Basically, 93 percent of their market dried up straight away\u201493 percent of visitors to Milford Sound are international.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000440\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221f651ff0-881f-4148-8631-0161f1c60f61\u0022\u003ENow, go up the road a bit to Queenstown, the jewel in the crown of New Zealand tourism. Queenstown was the fastest-growing region in New Zealand over the last 11 years\u2014the fastest-growing region, growing 7 percent year on year. Compound that for the last 11 years. It\u2019s now the hardest hit as a result of COVID. Approximately 75 percent of tourists that visit Queenstown are from international destinations. A lot of those businesses rely solely on international tourism\u201490 to 95 percent. Businesses built up over decades and generations, and the member across the hallway there says that\u2019s crap. Well, I invite that member down to Queenstown to talk to some of these businesses, people that have built these businesses up over decades, who phoned me up in tears on the phone because they\u2019ve put their houses on the line to grow these businesses. They\u2019ve taken huge amounts of debt on to keep employees in work. Now these businesses have lost basically all their revenue overnight.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000441\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221f651ff0-881f-4148-8631-0161f1c60f61\u0022\u003EIf we look at what happened throughout COVID, these businesses were asking the Government and the tourism Minister for some certainty\u2014certainty in terms of what\u2019s your Government\u2019s plan going forward. How is a business supposed to plan if the Government is not going to share their plan?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221f651ff0-881f-4148-8631-0161f1c60f61\u0022\u003EWe saw in the tourism COVID committees, the Minister of Tourism\u2014I actually asked the Minister, it was around about the period when they were talking about the numbers attending funerals, and I said to the Minister, \u201CThe Earnslaw, this is a ship, how many people are allowed on the Earnslaw?\u201D His reply was, \u201CYou need to ask the officials. The officials need to get in touch with that business.\u201D Well, Minister, if every single tourism business has to talk to officials about the rules, how on earth are they supposed to plan?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000443\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221f651ff0-881f-4148-8631-0161f1c60f61\u0022\u003EEvery week, we lost somewhere between 400 to 600 jobs in Queenstown. That\u2019s a population of 26,000. Four hundred to 600 jobs per week is a lot. Millbrook: 300 jobs. Skyline: 500 jobs. Nomads, a business where the owner started that 26 years ago\u2014he just wanted some certainty from the Government. In terms of the certainty, if you look at the Budget, the Budget allocated, for an industry that\u2019s often the top or second top export earner for New Zealand, providing about $112 million of revenue a day, $41 billion a year, over 10 percent of our country\u2019s GDP\u2014how much do you think of the new money they got in the Budget? Ten percent? Eight percent? Twelve percent? Andrew Falloon, have a guess.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000444\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ed2de46a-9047-4bfe-92c8-5f14fd415dfb\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e179f9b36bd74c22be3f71cda94e3552\u0022\u003EAndrew Falloon\u003C/span\u003E: Eight percent.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000445\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221f651ff0-881f-4148-8631-0161f1c60f61\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bd8c9fa6be8f4da09016b5e7ebb866b8\u0022\u003EHAMISH WALKER\u003C/span\u003E: One percent. For an industry that provides over 10 percent of GDP, they got 1 percent of new money: $400 million. And what was in that? A domestic marketing campaign and a working group.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000446\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00221f651ff0-881f-4148-8631-0161f1c60f61\u0022\u003EI just want to acknowledge the local paper, the Mountain Scene, a very good article written by Tracey Roxburgh\u2014and just acknowledge them for getting runner-up in the small community newspaper of the year last year. She writes: \u201CWhere, exactly, have you been, [Minister Davis]? \u2026 Please forgive me for being blunt \u2026 but you [have somehow] been dumbfoundingly quiet.\u201D We asked you, Minister, what are you going to do for the for the tourism industry? You replied, \u201CThere are [lots] of industries struggling at the moment.\u201D It goes on, later in the letter it states, \u201CAgain, I do apologise, [Minister] \u2026 it just seems, well, a bit shit really that you, given your portfolio, can\u2019t seem to answer [a basic question of what you\u2019re going to do for tourism].\u201D \u201CI asked if you\u2019re present, [Minister].\u201D It goes on and on. \u201CThis, Kelvin, is your job.\u201D Please do something for us. You seem to be \u201Casleep at the wheel.\u201D Well, Minister, this is an industry too important to fail.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ed2de46a-9047-4bfe-92c8-5f14fd415dfb\u0022 data-id=\u0022335e1ee374724621a50c4ae092c0012e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000447\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ed2de46a-9047-4bfe-92c8-5f14fd415dfb\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022335e1ee374724621a50c4ae092c0012e\u0022\u003EANDREW FALLOON (National\u2014Rangitata):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak this evening on the Budget. But before I do, I do want to comment on the circumstances in which this Budget was written and on the enormous impact that COVID-19 has had on our country and on our country\u2019s finances.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000448\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ed2de46a-9047-4bfe-92c8-5f14fd415dfb\u0022\u003EI do want to commend the Government, including our public health agencies, on leading New Zealand through what has been an absolute public health crisis. New Zealanders right across the country have made sacrifices that at normal times we would never usually ask of them. They\u2019ve responded and they\u2019ve responded well, and it\u2019s been through their hard work that we are now in a position, more than most around the world, to defeat COVID-19.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000449\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ed2de46a-9047-4bfe-92c8-5f14fd415dfb\u0022\u003EI don\u2019t pretend that that has been easy. Those sacrifices, for many, have been incredibly difficult. Almost every family will have their own story, and my family are no different. In the early days of level 4 measures, my wife\u2019s grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and, unfortunately, with travel restrictions in place I wasn\u2019t able to see her before she passed away. She was a life member of the Labour Party and was known to many in this House and indeed stood twice for Parliament, to be here herself. That\u2019s a story replicated across the country, for many thousands of families and, indeed, many people in my electorate that I serve who could not be with family members in their final days or in their final hours. It\u2019s one of many heartbreaking sacrifices that Kiwis across the country made in the hope of defeating the virus and turning the corner quickly, and now it is the time to do that. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000450\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ed2de46a-9047-4bfe-92c8-5f14fd415dfb\u0022\u003EThe time has now come when we must turn our attention from a singular focus on the public health response to one where we also look to mend a shattered economy. A thousand Kiwis every day are going on the jobseeker benefit. That hides a larger number who are unable to access benefits. The Government\u2019s own Budget projections estimate that 160,000 New Zealanders will lose their jobs in the coming months. I fear that the group that will be hit hardest by that are those who are least able to afford it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000451\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ed2de46a-9047-4bfe-92c8-5f14fd415dfb\u0022\u003ERecent research out of the United States suggests that the bottom 20 percent of income earners are four times more likely to lose their jobs than those in the top 20 percent. It\u2019s for those people that we must now seek employment. The wage subsidy, despite some faults, did a good job in keeping people employed, but it doesn\u2019t recognise the other huge costs, the other huge impositions that businesses found throughout the lockdown, whether they be rental costs or other significant challenges. They also now have ahead of them a subdued economic environment. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000452\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ed2de46a-9047-4bfe-92c8-5f14fd415dfb\u0022\u003ENobody suggests that every job can be saved. Nobody suggests that every job should be saved. What\u2019s needed, though, is a plan to grow jobs, to give small businesses, the engine room of the New Zealand economy, the confidence to invest, to grow, and to take on the chance of hiring somebody new. The cost of not doing so is incredibly high: people out of work for a lengthy period, which we know makes it all the more challenging to get them back into the workforce when the time is right. But on that, there is nothing in this Budget. There\u2019s more spending\u2014a lot more spending: $160 billion of new spending and new debt\u2014but no plan for how to create jobs for those that we lost.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000453\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ed2de46a-9047-4bfe-92c8-5f14fd415dfb\u0022\u003EIn recent weeks, we in the National Party have begun to release our economic plan. It includes JobStart, an incentive for employers to take on new staff to give somebody a chance. Our plan is one that will get the economy growing sooner with jobs for those who need them, one that recognises it\u2019ll be farmers and small businesses around this country in Ashburton; in Timaru; in South Canterbury, Jacqui Dean; in the Waikato, Tim van de Molen; in Taranaki, Jonathan Young, that will create the jobs that will pay the bills for the foreseeable future. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000454\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00226a0f7d91250c4a71ad0536da2219a608\u0022\u003EHon Scott Simpson\u003C/span\u003E: And Coromandel.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000455\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ed2de46a-9047-4bfe-92c8-5f14fd415dfb\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002237f799b456bf4c668f3731fb3241ec30\u0022\u003EANDREW FALLOON\u003C/span\u003E: One that puts jobs\u2014and Coromandel, Scott Simpson. One that puts jobs at the centre of our recovery, knowing that that is the best safety net that there can possibly be to support New Zealanders and get this country back moving again.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022 data-id=\u00228e54cc0db54e4712af186b1b2d25d5c1\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000456\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00228e54cc0db54e4712af186b1b2d25d5c1\u0022\u003EPRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today is the 11th consecutive day that we\u2019ve had no new cases of COVID-19 here in Aotearoa. There is just one active case remaining, and no one in hospital receiving treatment for this virus. The Government has taken decisive action over the last few months. It\u2019s been an absolute privilege to see that up front and to be able to support that. But, equally, as the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, has often said, we as a team of 5 million here in New Zealand have also taken collective action, collective effort, which has meant that we\u2019ve saved lives and we\u2019re in a good position now to have a chance of eliminating COVID-19.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000457\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003EI too just want to pause for a second\u2014as the previous speaker, Andrew Falloon, did\u2014to acknowledge the sacrifices that many have made, whether it\u2019s those who have stayed home during the higher alert levels or those who were at the various front lines that we\u2019ve seen across New Zealand, helping to contain initially and then to stamp out the virus as well. I also want to acknowledge that it\u2019s been an incredibly turbulent time for many. Those who have lost their jobs, those for whom their futures are uncertain as a result of the virus, and those who have seen the loss of lives in their families and amongst their friends as well\u2014I just want to acknowledge that in my contribution here.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000458\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s in the midst of this pandemic, the midst of this turbulence and uncertainty, that Budget 2020 was delivered, and that\u2019s what the focus was on. So it\u2019s a little surprising when the member who resumed his seat just now talks about the fact that there was an absence of job creation and protection in the Budget, because that\u2019s exactly what Budget 2020 was all about. It was about ensuring that those people who were on the front lines, those people\u2014New Zealanders who stayed at home\u2014can actually have their jobs protected. That\u2019s what the wage subsidy scheme was about.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000459\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003EWe went hard and we went early. We\u2019ve heard that a few times, but what does that mean? It means that just on 20 March, when we had eight cases and jumped 28, we closed the borders because that was a significant risk to the spread of COVID in New Zealand. That was\u2014and I acknowledge we\u2019ve heard this word many times\u2014unprecedented, because we\u2019ve never done that in the history of New Zealand. It was a strong measure, but it was needed. We progressed up alert levels to lockdown, and I watched as the Prime Minister and the Director-General of Health communicated clearly what was expected to people as well. I saw the Government was agile in terms of considering feedback and acting on it as well.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000460\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003EThe Government\u2019s initial economic response package, which included the wage subsidy scheme that we\u2019ve seen extended in Budget 2020, was one of the earliest in the world and one of the largest, compared to the size of our economy. The focus there was on ensuring that we got money to employers so that they could maintain that connection to their employees; so that when we went back to some semblance of normalcy, people had their jobs; so that businesses had their workers, and that workers were able to put food on their tables. The focus there was on getting money quickly into their pockets and ensuring that there was support for them to pay their bills, because this is a Government that believes that everyone has the right to live with dignity.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000461\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003EThe Government\u2019s plan, of which Budget 2020 was a part, was to respond, to recover, and to rebuild together\u2014and to rebuild better. I\u2019m paraphrasing here a little bit, but as the finance Minister said as he introduced the Budget, \u201CIf your house had burnt down, would you just rebuild it exactly the same, or would you use that as an opportunity to look at the changes that you could have made and to do it in a way that\u2019s better?\u201D And that\u2019s what this Budget does. There will be job losses, though. That has always been acknowledged. It has also always been acknowledged on this side of the House that the Government will continue to do everything that we can to support businesses and families.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000462\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003EI heard the new leader of the National Party ask the Prime Minister at question time today, about five, six, seven times, the same question about whether their one policy that they have announced recently will be incorporated into the Government\u2019s programme. But that one policy, with all due respect, is not a plan. A plan for small business\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000463\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a8cab3e3-b023-4ce7-9f4b-2c4137029057\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002218e7f7d454144cfba07d08bf0f847a4d\u0022\u003EKiritapu Allan\u003C/span\u003E: It\u2019s two pages!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000464\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00227d0cc5f0f76845b7afcc943fa95595a3\u0022\u003EPRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN\u003C/span\u003E: It\u2019s two pages? Still not a plan, Kiritapu Allan. But a plan is what this Government has done. To support our small businesses, the plan that we had as part of Budget 2020 was a targeted extension of the wage subsidy scheme to protect jobs, incomes, in businesses that were in the hardest-hit areas; the income relief payment for those who have lost their job since 1 March because of COVID-19; the investment specifically to support our tourism industry; interest-free loans for small businesses, and to date about 55,000 small businesses have applied, and about 95 percent of those have been approved for loans as well; supporting small businesses to grow digitally via e-commerce. I just want to point to the fact that Manaaki\u2014which is a platform for small businesses in mentoring specifically for small businesses\u2014conducted a survey, and I was really interested to note that the one thing that they pointed to that would make a huge difference for our small businesses was actually e-commerce and being able to project themselves in a digital world. Of course, once again the pandemic has shown us how things are changing in the way that we do things, and the importance of being able to connect digitally as well.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000465\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003EPractical assistance to help our exporters to seize international growth opportunities, which is an area I\u2019m also particularly interested in\u2014that\u2019s a $216 million package that actually looks at how we can transform trade. That goes back to the point that I made previously, in terms of how this Government is focusing on doing things better, and doing things together with those who are at the forefront. This particular investment, in terms of trade, will significantly increase the number of exporters that receive quite an intense form of support from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), tailored support that allows them to develop their capability and to connect with overseas markets and global partners, both for those who want to expand those connections and also for those who are venturing into that space of export. We all know that trade, for us as a trade-reliant nation, is incredibly important.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000466\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003EThe other interesting bit that I wanted to focus on as part of that package was a very practical, boots-on-the-ground approach that NZTE will be able to take and grow through this investment as well. So what they\u2019re able to do is to grow their team of in-market business development managers to provide that support to New Zealand exporters at a time when travel is particularly problematic. This investment in their capability growth means that we are able to have in-market teams that can work with our businesses here to meet customers, to vet new employees, to select distributors, all without our businesses having to travel\u2014which, of course, is quite difficult at this point in time. This, of course, sits alongside a whole suite of initiatives that have been announced earlier as well to support our small and medium enterprise sector.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000467\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003EJob creation\u2014very quickly; I\u2019m running out of time. The Government\u2019s plan, of course, is to work alongside the private sector, specifically in areas of housing and infrastructure investment, so that we look at where we\u2019ve got the need, what we\u2019ve got to do, and how we create jobs in order to deliver those, which I think is absolutely brilliant.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000468\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003EI want to use the remaining time that I have to point to the fact that it\u2019s not just about economic support, which, of course, at this particular time is critical, as we all know, but so is supporting our communities, and through this Budget we\u2019ve seen a $79 million boost to social service providers, $36 million in grants for community groups, and $22 million for the family violence sector. As someone who has worked in that sector for most of my life, I was incredibly thrilled to see that this is part of an ongoing package of support in every Budget to boost that sector and ensure that we close the gaps and we have an integrated system so that people don\u2019t fall through the cracks and become victims.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000469\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003EFinally, adult community education funding\u2014very quickly. The previous Government cut that, which then meant that some of our lowest-paid families could not access the community education that they needed. It also specifically affected new migrants, for whom it was a place they went to combat social isolation and make their own support networks. We reinstated that through our Budget, and I\u2019m incredibly pleased to see that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000470\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022872744a3-2256-4cdd-a4cc-939836dc2b11\u0022\u003EAll said and done, I am incredibly privileged to support a Government that is so focused on rebuilding our community and our economy, with the wellbeing and enhancing the mana of our people at the centre of all it does. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022 data-id=\u00224e034423582f46bba41f4149a948b28b\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000471\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00224e034423582f46bba41f4149a948b28b\u0022\u003ETIM VAN DE MOLEN (National\u2014Waikato):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Madam Speaker. I think that last member\u2019s contribution sums up a lot of what we\u2019ve heard from the Government in that the intention is good. There\u2019s been an unusual challenge that we\u2019re facing and they have put forward a response with the intent of providing the best possible outcome. That intent is admirable, but the actual delivery, unfortunately, is falling short, and that\u2019s where we\u2019re seeing a lack of substance in terms of how to actually provide the right solutions and the outcome that business, that community, that individuals and families need to come through this COVID challenge. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000472\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003EThis Budget is a gargantuan Budget. This sort of expenditure has never been seen before, so, understandably, New Zealanders are asking where it\u2019s going and how is it going to help their particular situation. It\u2019s not just about the volume of money\u2014I\u2019m sure Mr Jackson would appreciate it\u2019s not about the size; it\u2019s how you use it\u2014and on that basis, the detail is lacking in this particular instance. There are a number of areas where there\u2019s been some good investment, and I do want to touch on some of those as I go along this evening, but there have been so many missed opportunities. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000473\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003EJob creation is going to be a fundamental part of our recovery. The better we can do at creating new jobs and encouraging business to invest and to employ more staff and getting new businesses to start up and other businesses to retain staff\u2014that will be a major contributor to the success of our recovery from COVID. There are a whole range of projects, and we\u2019ve heard about shovel-ready projects. Expressway projects have a massive role to play within that, and in the Waikato we\u2019ve been very fortunate. Under the last Government, we had great investment in the Waikato Expressway, a massive project connecting Auckland down into the heart of the mighty Waikato, and we\u2019d intended to continue that. Unfortunately, this Government has cancelled it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000474\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003ENow, that extension down to Piarere, it\u2019s ready to go: a $560 million - odd investment, four-laning it down there, massive safety improvements, and massive economic potential for that area, as well. It\u2019s a no-brainer, and yet this Government refuses to pick up that project and get on with what that region needs. Instead, they got a $50 million roundabout out of the $8 billion - odd that was put forward for infrastructure investment earlier in the year. That\u2019s simply not good enough. That is a major piece of work that is critical to helping improve that connectivity in the \u201Cgolden triangle\u201D: Auckland, Hamilton, and the Bay of Plenty. Not just there, but the next step as well, from Piarere across to the Kaimai Range, and then the stretch going through the Kaimai Range\u2014let\u2019s look at a tunnel. We\u2019re spending massive amounts of money here. We need to be being bold with some of these visions but, actually, having clear plans around how to invest that money to create jobs for the benefit of New Zealanders. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000475\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s not just in the Waikato, of course. My colleague Matt King is very passionate about a four-lane expressway up North; my colleague Andrew Falloon, likewise, down in Rangitata, from Ashburton to Christchurch. These are important projects that have been cancelled by this Government but that actually provide massive job opportunities within those regions. The Labour members can jump up and down and say that it\u2019s not important or it\u2019s not what is needed, but, actually, it\u2019s about job creation\u2014job creation, safety, and economic opportunity\u2014and that\u2019s what these roads will deliver. So I would absolutely implore the Government to spend some of the additional $20 billion - odd that they have sitting aside in a slush fund and allocate it to some of these projects. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000476\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003EWe heard from Priyanca Radhakrishnan, the previous speaker, about \u201CThis Budget was very targeted, very planned.\u201D Well, I\u2019m sorry, but putting $20 billion in a slush fund suggests otherwise, so my suggestion is to utilise some of that on these roading projects. That would go a nice way to helping out. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000477\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003EMoving on from the roading to connectivity in general\u2014and I\u2019m talking here about ultra-fast broadband initiatives\u2014I did see that the Government announced earlier they were looking to expand that. In rural areas, that is absolutely vital, and when we look at the lockdown that we\u2019ve just been through, the requirement to have good connectivity was integral to businesses\u2019 ability to function well. So I would absolutely, again, ask the Government to look more seriously at investing that. Pushing out the fibre further outside our city limits to some of those smaller rural towns but, actually, getting the broadband out, as well, into the more remote areas\u2014that\u2019s going to be a key opportunity to grow productivity as well. These are some of the measures we need, and whilst it\u2019s important that we have wage subsidies in place to support those who are out of work, we also need to be looking very much at creating new jobs and encouraging investment. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000478\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s not just about support. It\u2019s actually about enabling and empowering businesses to get on and do what they do best, because businesses are going to underpin our economic recovery here. The Government has a role to play in that, but businesses are the ones who employ the individuals, who give them the job, and who take a punt on someone who might not have the right skills, if they have the framework that enables them to get on and produce what they need to improve their productivity and contribute to our economic recovery. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000479\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003EThe building and construction sector is another one I want to touch on, and I\u2019m very privileged to have recently picked up that portfolio on behalf of the National Party. Again, there is huge potential in this space. The job creation that can happen there is massive. There\u2019s 250,000-odd employees currently in the industry, who are playing a critical role now as we look towards the recovery in terms of construction, in particular, and in getting that sector up and running. Again, the ability for them to deliver then enables other businesses to get on and produce and to add economic stimulus as well. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000480\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003ESo that\u2019s where we really need to be looking more at streamlining the processes, overhauling the building code, and looking at where the liability sits within the industry, because there is far too much cost at the moment. That ends up coming on the end consumer, but, actually, the processes along the way are very slow and clunky and need to be reviewed. So it\u2019s encouraging to see that Minister Jenny Salesa, just last week, brought forward a bill around modular components and other matters. I commend her for that, and also for some of the recent changes around the small, 30-square-metre sheds and the like that can be built. Those are good things, but, actually, we need to make sure that we\u2019re bringing that in promptly, because there are businesses now who are missing out on sales as a result of people saying, \u201CWell, if that rule\u2019s coming in, I don\u2019t need a consent. I\u2019ll just hold off until it happens.\u201D, and these are businesses that have had zero revenue through the lockdown who have now desperately been looking to sell sheds and the like, who are suddenly having that taken away from them because of an announcement with unintended consequences. So I hope to see that one delivered sooner rather than later. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000481\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003EAlso, in terms of rural New Zealand, this is a key part, and for me in the Waikato, the mighty Waikato, heartland of dairy country\u2014that has played a huge role through this economic challenge that we\u2019re seeing from COVID. Dairy farming, or farming in particular, was an essential service, and rightly so. They were able to continue providing the hard work that they do in putting the food on our plates and producing the fibres and the like to get us trucking along as best as possible. The primary sector has underpinned our economy for many years, and I believe it will continue to do so. We need to make sure that we are giving them the right platform to grow and to be a bigger contributor to our recovery, and, sadly, this Budget hasn\u2019t delivered enough in the investment, innovation, and research space to provide new opportunities for our primary sectors to evolve and to adapt the way that they operate so that they can be more efficient, so that they can have a lesser impact on the environment, and so that they can produce more for less. These are all aspects that will contribute to our economic growth. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000482\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003EIt is encouraging to see the Government, just last week, soften their stance on some of the freshwater proposals they had put out. Unfortunately, it\u2019s not nearly as far as we would like to have seen them go. I just want to reiterate here that farmers care about the environment, and that\u2019s a common misconception we hear from the other side of the House. No farmer wants to be out there polluting their environment. They rely on having a top-quality environment to be able to produce as well as possible, so that is a total misconception to suggest otherwise. But bringing in additional impositions on farming in a time like this is just not appropriate. They need to be given a platform\u2014the best possible platform\u2014to improve their productivity and help our recovery. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000483\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022071f7800-2755-41b6-83df-07ebaf867ae2\u0022\u003ENow, local tourism is a nice part that I want to finish on today, and when we\u2019re looking at our recovery, again, international tourism is not on the cards for some time. Domestically, we need to encourage more, and in the Waikato we have huge opportunity there. Conservation is a big part of that, and I\u2019m really passionate about getting out in the environment. We have a lot of walks around our region. I\u2019m hoping to see people utilising that more and, down the track, potentially, a great walk in the Waikato region would be something fantastic. But there is so much on offer there, and I really would encourage people to take up that opportunity to explore their backyard, as well. Thank you. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022 data-id=\u0022e6aa83ec1a594bd0a16d02df5612ddbf\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000484\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022e6aa83ec1a594bd0a16d02df5612ddbf\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Ruth Dyson)\u003C/span\u003E: The next call is a split call. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002202e74c40-9529-4e15-adc2-c032eadc2205\u0022 data-id=\u0022b2e292138e634d3a96efb51bc96c38e8\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000485\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002202e74c40-9529-4e15-adc2-c032eadc2205\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022b2e292138e634d3a96efb51bc96c38e8\u0022\u003EGREG O\u2019CONNOR (Labour\u2014\u014Ch\u0101riu):\u003C/span\u003E Sitting here all afternoon, starting from the new Leader of the Opposition\u2019s speech, we\u2019ve heard that they are about small business. Now, I think they are talking to small business, but I don\u2019t think they\u2019re listening to them. I think they\u2019re telling business what they think they want to hear, because I want to give you an example of what happened with me in my \u014Ch\u0101riu electorate post the Budget.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000486\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002202e74c40-9529-4e15-adc2-c032eadc2205\u0022\u003EI walked into a cafe with a fairly hard-bitten group of businessmen\u2014and they all are men\u2014who are not necessarily always well-disposed towards my own politics. One of them\u2014quite a cynical sort of a guy\u2014for him, was quite effusive in his praise of the Budget. What it did, and he was quite clear, was allowed him\u2014he knows his business model is not sustainable. He knows his business model\u2014it\u2019s to do with event management\u2014is going to need some serious adjustment. What this Budget did was give him the opportunity to keep his workforce together to enable him to adjust, to adapt, and to get his new strategy right for his new model. So what he said and why it was so effusive was because it meant, through our wage subsidy, he was going to be able to do just that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000487\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d9aa6ab898af41359348dcd4c8581103\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Ruth Dyson)\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019m very sorry to interrupt the member, but the time has come for the House to adjourn for the dinner break.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000488\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002275a05f96-2474-4c90-a6ea-cf7b5798e03e\u0022\u003ESitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000489\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002202e74c40-9529-4e15-adc2-c032eadc2205\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002224c5aac85553466e84bc81fec47a378f\u0022\u003EGREG O\u2019CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Before the break, I was just discussing the fact that while the Opposition may be talking at their small businesses, I don\u2019t think they\u2019re listening to them. I talked about the experience of one of my cynical members and the pleasure he had at what the Budget delivered him. The other one was one who availed himself of the business finance guarantee scheme, who once again said that that enabled him to keep his employees on. In both those cases, it enabled their businesses to keep going and to ensure that for any adjustments they need to make in the new environment, they have time to make it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000490\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002202e74c40-9529-4e15-adc2-c032eadc2205\u0022\u003EThe other thing is that having run a $40 million a year business for 20 years before I came here, I did also understand that whatever you do for a business, actually, you need customers. To merely focus on what you are going to just give in a very short term, you actually need to take a little bit of a broader picture, which this Budget does, to ensure that we\u2019re actually looking at what it will deliver by way of a broad base that will bring the customers back.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000491\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002202e74c40-9529-4e15-adc2-c032eadc2205\u0022\u003EI got another email from a land-owning gentleman in Scotland whose farm I\u2019d worked on some years ago, who actually sent me to very tentatively say, \u201CAre you on Jacinda\u2019s side or not?\u201D When I pointed out I was actually in the same party, he then waxed lyrical about what those people in that part of the world think of her. Now, that\u2019s not anything to do with, necessarily\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000492\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022be04f62333de414b9d8bf4c931c05408\u0022\u003EDEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: You\u2019re right.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000493\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002202e74c40-9529-4e15-adc2-c032eadc2205\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a8af91e629b94134810d2151193360bb\u0022\u003EGREG O\u2019CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014an individual\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000494\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022457527554c5e42318178e8f5619aa6e3\u0022\u003EDEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: You\u2019re right.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000495\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002202e74c40-9529-4e15-adc2-c032eadc2205\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f78947e84cc4444b864b16d7df617b0e\u0022\u003EGREG O\u2019CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014but what it means is this Budget\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000496\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228caebb402ec841dcb26c36bb1e87fa27\u0022\u003EDEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Especially the Budget.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000497\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002202e74c40-9529-4e15-adc2-c032eadc2205\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022b1fab87c72844be783672f99beff3994\u0022\u003EGREG O\u2019CONNOR\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014is going to\u2014and what the Budget actually does is it ensures that the customers we are going to need are those very people overseas who will be the ones that will allow our businesses to take advantage of what this Budget delivers, because any Budget and any scheme can deliver to businesses, but unless it broadens out and ensures that those customers that are essential\u2014the life\u2019s blood of small business, of big business of this country\u2014can come here. So what this Budget is doing is ensuring that those very businesses keep intact their workforce, they keep intact their skills, and they adapt where they need to, as I spoke to of the first case of a Khandallah business that is able to actually keep his workforce intact so that when the benefits of the work we are doing internationally come to pass, when those customers that we\u2019re going to need that understand what a quality, well-led country that got through COVID is, we\u2019re already seeing it. We\u2019ve seen the criticism. We\u2019ve seen the American film industry coming back into town. Those things only happen because you are running an efficient, well-led country. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000498\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002202e74c40-9529-4e15-adc2-c032eadc2205\u0022\u003EThis Budget is an absolute example of that; that now we\u2019re going to ensure that all those various schemes we\u2019ve put in place, it\u2019s well-directed money, it\u2019s money directed to make sure that those good businesses in \u014Ch\u0101riu, in my electorate in this case, in New Zealand, and particularly those who are dealing with the rest of the world, will be in a position to ensure that they are able to deliver for this country, and we\u2019re able to take advantage\u2014the first advantage we\u2019ve got\u2014of being the country at the head of defeating, of getting control of COVID. Noticed by the rest of the world, this Budget sets the scheme\u2014a great Budget.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022 data-id=\u0022afec671ad7e34a45b1e21d9d8fa55e0f\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000499\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022afec671ad7e34a45b1e21d9d8fa55e0f\u0022\u003EANGIE WARREN-CLARK (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Madam Speaker. Delighted to stand and take a five-minute call on the Budget. I want to start my contribution by congratulating our Government for its exceptional work of pivoting\u2014right in the middle of COVID-19\u2014to produce a Budget that has been exceptional. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000500\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022\u003ESmack-bang in the middle of COVID-19, our Minister of Finance turned 360 and created a Budget with the Government, in line to manage and support our people, their health, and our businesses. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000501\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022\u003EI want to acknowledge as well our leader Jacinda Ardern, the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, for her daily updates. These daily updates\u2014don\u2019t forget that she spent every single day of our lockdown working for this country. I\u2019d like to commend her for that, because it was a tremendously difficult time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000502\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022\u003EOn to the Budget, and as we move slowly towards level 1, I want to pause and acknowledge the support packages, the $50 billion Budget that has been offered to us all. We\u2019re only able to do this because we prepared for the rainy day, and my goodness, that rainy day is here and we are so very lucky that we have a Government that is not only compassionate but has good fiscal management. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000503\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022\u003ELook, our Budget has helped support 1.7 million people with the wage subsidy, and I just would like to acknowledge on behalf of my husband and I, who are small-business owners as well\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000504\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e25c503b555f4dbe821618193b7392ea\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Very royal.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000505\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223b94e75230d849bea794fbbb7319c275\u0022\u003EANGIE WARREN-CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: Ha, ha! Yes, very royal.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000506\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bb6bc29ae19248ecb017366c6ce6525b\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: What sort of business?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000507\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c687b3ad4d17476db1e89710411e1e96\u0022\u003EANGIE WARREN-CLARK\u003C/span\u003E: A construction business. We are running a small construction business, and one of the things that is so important, what\u2019s so important for us, is the contribution for the wages. That really supported us. That meant that our staff could stay working. That meant that our people could keep feeding themselves and look after themselves. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000508\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022\u003EI\u2019m based in P\u0101p\u0101moa, the mighty Bay of Plenty, and I\u2019d like to encourage the member opposite to come visit P\u0101p\u0101moa and perhaps talk to some of the businesses in my community who are saying thank you for this work. Thank you so much for being able to support. So those were 1.7 million people supported. This is a tremendous Budget.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000509\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022\u003EI\u2019d like to come very quickly now to two things that I\u2019m particularly passionate about\u2014two things that I\u2019m passionate about and came to Parliament for. One of those things\u2014as you may know, I\u2019ve been a manager of Tauranga Women\u2019s Refuge, so I\u2019ve managed a refuge. Now, Tauranga Women\u2019s Refuge spoke to me the other day\u2014absolutely delighted. Their baseline funding has been increased to 60 percent\u201460 percent baseline funding. When I ran that refuge, for nine long years we did not have a pay increase. We operated on $21.25 an hour and we had 14 staff, so I am absolutely delighted\u2014delighted that actually, on the ground, our first-class, exceptional front-line workers are going to be paid what they deserve. Hallelujah\u2014I say. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000510\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022\u003EThe final thing that I\u2019d like to raise is a very small part of the Budget, which I\u2019m personally delighted about, and I would like to acknowledge the Hon David Parker, Eugenie Sage, and Damien O\u2019Connor for their work. This is around the $32 million put into food rescue. Why is this important? Food rescue is something that I\u2019ve been really passionate about. Food rescue\u2014we have $1.7 trillion worth of food wasted in the world every year. We have a huge amount: 8 percent of methane produced by food waste, and we have people hungry in this country, and we have people who have food that is good enough to eat but not good enough to sell going into landfill. So I\u2019m very delighted about the package that has been put together that supports the environment but also supports the social aspects\u2014$32 million. I\u2019d like to acknowledge and thank those Ministers for working so collaboratively. Also, very quickly, I acknowledge the select committee work, which I led, in which a briefing was created looking at food waste in New Zealand. So I\u2019m absolutely personally delighted for this work. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022 data-id=\u002251ed173e3367453b8f960cbff536cd69\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000511\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002251ed173e3367453b8f960cbff536cd69\u0022\u003EDr JIAN YANG (National):\u003C/span\u003E With additional money of $50 billion, this Budget is the largest in our history. Now our national debt will increase by $160 billion in four years, and our deficit will increase by about $100 billion over this\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000512\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e5123c3169864dde8c632fe8ba8f28e8\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: 140.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000513\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221e6c4dd4aad249cc80ec5911d6e77d40\u0022\u003EDr JIAN YANG\u003C/span\u003E: No deficit.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000514\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221cbc65438ef9475cbdfbd3f6eafa354f\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Oh, 106.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000515\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002265e31a7fe200471485dfef2527b62131\u0022\u003EDr JIAN YANG\u003C/span\u003E: Yeah. Sorry, $140 billion for our debt, extra debt, while $100 billion is our deficit in the next four years. So this is a huge amount of money. We understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our economy and on New Zealanders. So it is, therefore, necessary to spend more money to support New Zealanders who are struggling and to stimulate our economy. On the other hand, we need to understand that this is not free money. Inevitably, or eventually, we will need to pay it back. So it is important that each dollar is well spent. But this Budget did not have the particular plan to convince us that each dollar is well spent.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000516\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003EWell, basically, we say we have good ideas; we have money. But when you ask for costings, when you ask for what this money will achieve, we cannot find those details. What is shocking is that not enough is there to support our small businesses. Numerous small-business owners have come to see me, complaining about this. They need money, cash flow, to cover their rent, to cover electricity and water bills, and other ongoing costs. But there is no particular plan to support them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000517\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003ENow, the tourism industry. The tourism industry in our country is particularly important\u2014right? It employs about 400,000 people, and for the international tourism industry that is, again I will say, extremely important to our economy. But what have we got for our tourism industry? Four hundred million dollars\u2014$400 million\u2014for a most important industry of our country. And tourism\u2014sometimes tourism, sometimes dairy industry\u2014can be the number one exporters of our economy, but then just $400 million for our tourism industry.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000518\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003EOn the same day, on Budget day, the Tourism Export Council of New Zealand sent a letter to industry, to international tourism providers. I quote: the letter says, \u201CThe Budget 2020 announcement today of Government\u2019s $400 million plan to help the tourism industry is a sad day for all businesses involved in the international tourism sector. Tourism touches every part of the national economy. The Government has failed the international tourism sector and appears to have given up on an industry that has produced so much for the NZ economy and society.\u201D It continues to say, \u201CNone of the suggestions TECNZ\u201D\u2014Tourism Export Council of New Zealand, so TECNZ\u2014\u201Cput forward to MBIE to assist businesses has translated with announcements today. Is Government trying to overcomplicate things or are they not listening to the private sector experts in the industry who have been around for decades and know their stuff?\u201D So this is what we hear from, particularly, the international tourism industry.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000519\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003EAnother problem with this Budget is that, as I said, there are no details\u2014right? How the money will be spent and what will be achieved\u2014all these things we cannot really find. As I said, they have good ideas\u2014so these are good ideas; this is the money\u2014and as for details, wait and see. Take the $400 million for the tourism industry as an example again\u2014right? TECNZ says that they are \u201Cimmensely disappointed\u201D with the recovery package, because it is so unclear how it will tangibly help businesses. It says, \u201CThe $400 million tourism recovery package has limited or no details around what exactly the two areas of a tourism transition programme and strategic assets protection programme is all about.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000520\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003ESo there is no tourism plan. They put the \u201Ctourism\u201D in bold\u2014\u201Ctourism plan\u201D. There is no tourism plan attached to it with time frames on when markets will rebound, numbers anticipated to treble, and the cost it might take to attract visitors back. The recovery package does not help tourism businesses that needed a cash-flow injection to help with commercial rents, leases, and operating costs\u2014so, no details.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000521\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003EWell, this Government has never shown genuine interest in supporting our tourism industry. With the COVID-19 pandemic, we\u2019ll expect the tourism industry will need more support from the Government, and it will need more data to have more targeted support and also a more targeted, better-informed business plan. But you know what? We have no such key data, such as hotel occupancy data. We don\u2019t have it. Why? Because Stats New Zealand stopped it late last year. So in the months leading up to the pandemic and in the months of the pandemic, we won\u2019t have data to tell the industry. This is simply because this Government did not put enough money to support the particularly important survey on accommodation occupancy, the hotel occupancy survey. Again, I would say this Government has never shown genuine interest in our tourism industry and hospitality industry.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000522\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003EThis will have strong implications to the recovery of the industry. This is a sharp contrast to the previous National Government. When John Key was Prime Minister, he was also the Minister of Tourism. Under his leadership, New Zealand tourism developed so fast\u2014right? But now we are, basically, not giving any substantial help to our tourism industry, so this is not good at all.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000523\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003EIt is a rather common practice for this Government to simply throw all the money without well considering the plan. I\u2019ll give you another example. Just recently, the Government established what it called the international student hardship fund. The Government officials won\u2019t do this. They asked international education providers and supporting organisations to apply on behalf of international students. These organisations will have to do a lot of paperwork, and they\u2019d have to report back to the Government as to how they spend the money.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000524\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022656487fe-e0a2-485c-8dc2-fe61b9aec128\u0022\u003EEach student can have up to $1,000, and each provider or organisation can have only $20,000, but they have to do a lot of paperwork, and they have to assess whether these applications are genuine or not. But it\u2019s hard for them to do so, because they can\u2019t check the financial situation of each individual student. So this puts them in a very awkward position. They can\u2019t say no, because they can\u2019t justify their decision because they can\u2019t check the financial situation, but on the other hand, they can\u2019t say just simply yes. They have to say yes to everyone, because there\u2019s no clear criteria there for these providers to really implement. So this is their plan, again. The money\u2019s there but no particularly well considered plan. Again, this plan was not consulted on beforehand. This is typical of this Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022 data-id=\u00223248dd3eacf2407b88e04a24936af797\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000525\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00223248dd3eacf2407b88e04a24936af797\u0022\u003EHon STUART NASH (Minister for Small Business):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Dr Jian is obviously against small business or he hasn\u2019t read the Budget or he doesn\u2019t understand what\u2019s in the Budget. Either way, now, like his new leader, he should do his homework before he comes down here and opens up his mouth. His speech was about how we didn\u2019t spend enough money\u2014how we didn\u2019t spend enough money\u2014and yet the Nats keep going on about how much money we\u2019re spending. I\u2019ll tell you the real insight. The real insight is that Dr Jian mentioned John Key\u2019s name more than he mentioned his current leader\u2019s. Well, Dr Jian, John Key and Bill English are no longer here, my son. They are long gone, the good old days. Do you know who your current leader is?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000526\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022e4f13a5a3d7f4ab686720870606e319c\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Nasty.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000527\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022879ab9a24c6a422db2de6a9c4d32f58b\u0022\u003EHon STUART NASH\u003C/span\u003E: Nasty? I\u2019m just pointing out a fact\u2014I\u2019m just pointing out a fact, Jacqui Dean. The one thing I would say, talking of Jacqui Dean, is under the Jacinda Ardern Government, for the first time in a long time, the Minister for Small Business is actually a Minister inside Cabinet. This is the Government of small business\u2014this is the Government of small business.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000528\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003ELet me outline what was in the Budget for small business.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000529\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022977cccaf-581d-4f48-924e-32bf6c54a93d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022170a62485a1647428106b366ccea2fb5\u0022\u003EDEPUTY SPEAKER\u003C/span\u003E: Please.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000530\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00221a33f9c94b504e549522cc35ae7d4002\u0022\u003EHon STUART NASH\u003C/span\u003E: The previous speaker said there was nothing in the Budget for small business. Well, if this is nothing, then heaven help me. First of all, there was $3 million for something called Business Connect. Now, this is rolling out Business Connect. What Business Connect does is it is actually addressing the major pain points that businesses have constantly told us they have when dealing with government\u2014both central and local. When they apply for a licence or a permit or anything, they\u2019ve got to provide all their information numerous times. They have no idea where they are in the process, so they go to check when their licence is about to expire: \u201CHas my licence been approved? Where am I at?\u201D They have no idea. Business Connect is changing all this. In fact, there have been a couple of trials on this with businesses, and what they found is in the first year they got about a 35 percent increase in productivity; in the second year, up to an 80 percent increase in productivity. Business Connect is responding to the direct pain points of small business. This isn\u2019t something we dreamt up; this is something small business said we need, and we\u2019re delivering.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000531\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003EThere\u2019s something called e-invoicing\u2014implementing e-invoicing. We\u2019ve got another $12.5 million for e-invoicing. Now, e-invoicing is one of these 21st century constructs that is going to make it significantly easier for small businesses to pay their bills. One of the things that I have actually done a lot as Minister for Small Business is move the conversation around payment terms. I remember, when the previous Opposition spokesperson for small business, who happens to be sitting opposite me, came out and said, \u201COur policy is going to be that every business pays on the 20th of the month following.\u201D I thought that absolutely lacks aspiration\u2014and probably a little bit of a lack of knowledge around 21st century technology. The 20th of the month following is a historic construct to do with cheques and mail, etc. etc. At the beginning of COVID, we went out and, in a letter signed by myself, the Prime Minister, and the Minister of Finance, wrote to every single Government agency and said we want you to pay 10 days after receipt of invoice\u2014not 20th of the month following; that could be up to 50 days. We wanted 10 days. In fact, we were looking at legislation before COVID. A discussion document was out there. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000532\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003EE-invoicing gives life to this. What e-invoicing is is my accounting software talking to Kieran\u2019s accounting software, for example. It\u2019s generated invoices. It means they\u2019re correct, and it means people get paid on time. We all know, as we\u2019re told time and time again, that small business is about cash flow. Imagine getting your invoices paid in 10 days as opposed to 50 days. In fact, at this point, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) actually pays 75 percent of their invoices within five working days and 95 percent of their invoices within 10 working days. In fact, one of the first things I did as Minister for Small Business was I called in a company called Fonterra, whose payment terms were 120 days from the end of month of invoice\u2014so it could be 150 days\u2014and said to them, \u201CHow can you justify treating your customers like this.\u201D What did they do? They came back and they changed it to the 20th of the month following. Payment terms and cash flow are so important to small businesses. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000533\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003EThe thing about this is MBIE tell me that about 30 percent of invoices are late paid. That\u2019s not because of lazy accounts payable; that\u2019s because the invoices are wrong. So a small business puts their invoice in. On the 20th of the month following, they get a call saying your invoice is late; they\u2019ve got to resubmit it. That is woefully inefficient. E-invoicing will change this.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000534\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003EE-invoicing was also part of our single economic market agenda. So we\u2019re working very closely with the Australians. We have the same platform\u2014Peppol platform. So New Zealand and Australia are going to be one when it comes to e-invoicing.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000535\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003EThere was also something about digitisation of small business. This is encouraging innovative initiatives to encourage small business to use e-commerce. Now, one thing we do know is that under alert level 3, those businesses that were already e-commerce enabled or already digitally enabled or using digital tools probably had a competitive advantage over those businesses that weren\u2019t. We understand in the 21st century we just need to ensure that our small businesses have the ability to use digital tools in a way that drives productivity, that optimises their offering, and that allows those men and women who work incredibly hard to look at the data that is generated from their business anyway and see how they can improve it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000536\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003EOne thing I\u2019ve said to my MBIE officials is I see us\u2014I see our role\u2014as enablers. We\u2019re not going to go out there and be so arrogant as to tell people what they can do, but what we can do is develop the tools, look at the ways we can make them really accessible, and provide a level of training to get small businesses into e-commerce so they can again be part of the 21st century.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000537\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003EThe other thing is we put $2.3 million into business.govt.nz. Now, I have no doubt that a number of MPs get an email from business.govt.nz. The reason I say that is because they have 850,000 email addresses of almost every single small business, sole trader, or large business director, to which they send out email newsletters. Now, they\u2019ve done it around single issues\u2014for example, we did it around the Small Business Cashflow (Loan) Scheme: just a single email saying this is going to expire on 12 June; if you\u2019re interested in this, we recommend that this is where you go and this is how you can enrol\u2014to full-on full COVID newsletters, which list everything that we\u2019re doing. It leverages over 200 different websites. There are some amazing tools on business.govt.nz, and, in fact, I would recommend anyone who is listening to this that\u2019s a small-business owner, or any of the MPs, just to take a look at business.govt.nz. It is a fantastic resource for informing businesses of what is available to them to help them plan, to help them succession plan\u2014cash-flow planners, Holiday Act; you name it, it is there. It is a great resource.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000538\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003EWe also put money into the New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) organisational part number. Now, I have said, as the Minister for Small Business, whenever I\u2019m speaking at any sort of chamber event or business conference, that I believe that this will be the last generation of business owner that will survive, let alone thrive, without being digitally enabled. The reason I say that is everything we are developing at MBIE and also at Inland Revenue is based on a digital platform. That is the New Zealand Business Number. It is very easy to get, and, in fact, to be part of the Small Business Cashflow (Loan) Scheme, a business had to enter their NZBN. So this is the platform upon which businesses connect and e-invoicing, etc., sits. It is amazing what we have achieved, and Minister Woods has had a lot to play in this in terms of innovation and digitisation. But it is amazing what we have achieved in just 2\u00BD years in terms of trying to drive the sort of digital innovation that we think will make a huge difference to the small-business sector. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000539\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003EWe also put just under $10 million in Better for Business. Better for Business is an all-of-Government group that works really closely together on the issues that small business tell them are barriers to their success. They undertake surveys; they make a whole lot of recommendations. It is a very, very engaged group of chief executives, and it is, I think, one of the most valuable groups in this Parliament\u2014not of MPs, of course; of officials\u2014because it is the top CEs actually nutting out how to drive innovation and success in the small business sector. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000540\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bbded2ec-ac25-4a73-a380-3f4d87693084\u0022\u003EWhen the last member said that there is nothing in this Budget for small business, I hope, in the last 10 minutes, I have just very briefly outlined just a number of the few initiatives that we have in the Budget that directly relate to small business. There are, of course, a number of other initiatives, like research and development, employment training, wage subsidy, etc., etc., that actually do help small business, but this is a Budget about jobs and about small business. Thank you very much.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022ee649aea-c6fa-4610-9fcf-5c4bb2d3cd33\u0022 data-id=\u00228396fa2622da4ad2945856329495a162\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000541\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ee649aea-c6fa-4610-9fcf-5c4bb2d3cd33\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00228396fa2622da4ad2945856329495a162\u0022\u003EMATT DOOCEY (National\u2014Waimakariri):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. It\u2019s a pleasure to rise and take a call in the Budget 2020 debate. We start off with the context of COVID-19. Never have we had a time that\u2019s reinforced the importance of a strong economy, low unemployment, and increasing incomes on people\u2019s mental health. We know that with the numbers of people losing their jobs, losing their incomes, we\u2019re facing a large number of people who are going to be facing mental distress. In fact, on the Epidemic Response Committee, Sir Peter Gluckman clearly outlined in his report that 10 percent of New Zealanders who will lose their jobs and/or income over the coming months, if not years, will face getting post-traumatic stress disorder. That is a serious mental illness. So if we\u2019re looking at 200,000 to 300,000 people in that category, that\u2019s 20,000 to 30,000 New Zealanders who will face serious mental illness. If there was a Budget for the Government to step up in mental health, this was it, and they failed. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000542\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ee649aea-c6fa-4610-9fcf-5c4bb2d3cd33\u0022\u003EThe problem is they believe their own rhetoric on mental health. The Hon Stuart Nash turned up at the Grand Hall when I attended an event for mental health and addiction services. He was there on behalf of the health Minister, Dr Clark, who at that time said he was busy dealing with COVID-19. We now know that is a debatable point. Now, he told that group that in Budget 2019, the Government invested $1.9 billion into mental health services. We know that\u2019s not correct, because a large portion of that money, maybe up to a quarter of it, was for the State abuse inquiry. Several hundred million was into Housing First projects. Now, they\u2019re all good initiatives\u2014don\u2019t get me wrong\u2014but they\u2019re not front-line mental health services. Yes, granted, the Government allocated $455 million to the new flagship front-line mental health service, much needed by New Zealanders\u2014$450 million. That gave a lot of New Zealanders hope. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000543\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ee649aea-c6fa-4610-9fcf-5c4bb2d3cd33\u0022\u003EYet how much has this Government spent of the $455 million? As at February this year, $3.2 million; in May this year, $20 million out of $455 million. So what this Government is good at doing is allocating money. But with that example I gave, the health Minister can\u2019t even spend the money. It\u2019s not all just about giving big figures; it\u2019s about having a plan. So when the health Minister came out with his re-announcement of $40 million or $50 million for Budget 2020 for the front-line mental health service, he highlighted that his front-line mental health service was currently operating from 22 sites. How many of those sites were actually operating before Budget 2019? Twenty-two. There\u2019s no net gain of new front-line mental health services. And he announced he\u2019s going to roll it out to another 100 GP sites. Well, we have 1,800 GPs in New Zealand. When that gets rolled out under Budget 2020, by July 2021, those 100 sites will be 8 percent of GPs. And when I asked the health Minister what GPs they were going to be rolled out to, he didn\u2019t know. No plan.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000544\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ee649aea-c6fa-4610-9fcf-5c4bb2d3cd33\u0022\u003EThis is the problem in mental health. The Government\u2019s believing its own rhetoric, yet they\u2019re not allocating the funding and they have no plan for increasing what their own mental health inquiry said. The indicative target of the mental health inquiry was to increase access from 7 percent to 20 percent. But ask this Government how much they have increased access by\u2014they can\u2019t tell you. So it\u2019s all very well allocating a lot of money, but you\u2019ve actually got to spend it and you\u2019ve got to have a plan.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000545\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ee649aea-c6fa-4610-9fcf-5c4bb2d3cd33\u0022\u003EAnd now here they are faced with COVID-19, and the GP Dr Baddock, who\u2019s the New Zealand Medical Association chair, told the Epidemic Response Committee that we\u2019re going to see a huge amount of mental health problems over the next 12 months and beyond. We need to be able to deal with that. And where were they in Budget 2020? Missing in action. Yes, they\u2019ll point to initiatives like Mana Ake in Canterbury. What a great programme. The National Government should have done that; we didn\u2019t do it. But the problem with that is it\u2019s one region out of 16 in New Zealand\u2014one out of 16 that it\u2019s been rolled out to. And in Budget 2020, if you look at the documents, it clearly states that initiative has only got funding for one more year. There is no confirmed funding for that initiative post-2020, 2021. Look at the Piki pilot that the Greens champion\u2014what a great programme, providing free counselling to 18- to 24-year-olds. But the same problem: it\u2019s in one region. We have 16 regions in New Zealand. That is another initiative that has no secured funding post-2021.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000546\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ee649aea-c6fa-4610-9fcf-5c4bb2d3cd33\u0022\u003EAnd you can see why people are starting to get concerned. We had the Mental Health Foundation, who came out after the announcement in Budget 2020, who said, \u201CThe [Mental Health Foundation] remains concerned that the Budget is lacking in some key areas, including: No resourcing or implementation plan for the recommendations of He Ara Oranga\u2014without a plan we are concerned that progress will stall and drift.\u201D And that\u2019s where this Government\u2019s mental health response is at: stalling and drifting. After announcing $1.9 billion, we now have the major stakeholders saying they\u2019re concerned that it\u2019s stalling and drifting. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000547\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ee649aea-c6fa-4610-9fcf-5c4bb2d3cd33\u0022\u003EAnd not only that, we\u2019ve seen progress go backwards. The annual reports for the DHBs\u2014waiting times for child and adolescent mental health services: in the last two years, the waiting time has increased 75 percent. Fifty percent of DHBs are reporting their waiting time is longer. And you know what the DHBs were saying at those annual reviews, when we asked them about the $1.9 billion? They said they couldn\u2019t point to where the money is. They didn\u2019t think it had flowed out yet. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000548\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ee649aea-c6fa-4610-9fcf-5c4bb2d3cd33\u0022\u003ESo here we have a Government who should have stepped up in 2020. We\u2019ve got a huge wave of mental distress occurring as a result of COVID-19, and we have very little. Yes, a continuation of Budget 2019. But for the points I outline, there\u2019s real concern that money is not being spent. Of the $455 million for the new front-line mental health service, only $20 million of that\u2019s spent. And what\u2019s really concerning is the health Minister will blame the GP practices and he\u2019ll blame the workforce. Yet what we do know is New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC) - accredited counsellors who are contracted to DHBs to provide primary care have been told there is no further funding to respond to the growing number of referrals they are getting. That\u2019s why Christine Macfarlane from NZAC, the president of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors, came out and called their initiative a total waste of taxpayers\u2019 money.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000549\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022ee649aea-c6fa-4610-9fcf-5c4bb2d3cd33\u0022\u003ESo we have a workforce. It can respond now to the growing demand of COVID-19. And I do want to point out\u2014not out of petty politics, but maybe an initiative that we can all back to move forward\u2014that post - Christchurch earthquakes, the former National Government committed to providing free 50,000 counselling sessions through the GPs. Why did we not hear of that in Budget 2020? Because as all the experts are saying, in an economy where people are losing their jobs, losing their livelihoods, losing their incomes, losing their agency to make decisions, and becoming overcome with the stress in their lives, we have not seen a response from this Government. What we needed in Budget 2020 was a plan, a plan for how this money was going to be deployed. We can\u2019t be told constantly, \u201CWell, two years ago, we promised $1.9 billion.\u201D What about today? Where are the new front-line mental health services that will respond to the growing mental distress in COVID-19 in Budget 2020? Thank you, Madam Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022 data-id=\u00222e9bb70fa9a847fa90a7d134b2419d1e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000550\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00222e9bb70fa9a847fa90a7d134b2419d1e\u0022\u003EHon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources):\u003C/span\u003E I move, That this debate be now adjourned. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000551\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002237a99b65-4919-4800-830d-3dd7c920d5cd\u0022\u003EMotion agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000552\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00224bece451f03f4ab6acd5e7455ba866fb\u0022\u003EClimate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000553\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u00229278445a91f54fca94ebaf4d0c31c147\u0022\u003ESecond Reading\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022 data-id=\u00221e8a9dd659a74f8db6583a8baf5934de\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000554\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221e8a9dd659a74f8db6583a8baf5934de\u0022\u003EHon JAMES SHAW (Minister for Climate Change):\u003C/span\u003E I move, That the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill be now read a second time. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000555\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003EE Te M\u0101ngai o Te Whare, t\u0113n\u0101 koe. Ki a koutou, \u014Dku hoa P\u0101remata, huri noa i Te Whare, ng\u0101 mihi o te tau hou ki a koutou katoa.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000556\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003E[Madam Speaker, greetings. To you, my parliamentary colleagues throughout the house, New Year\u2019s greetings to you all.]\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000557\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003EThe most cost-effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is for there to be a price on those emissions that reflects the true cost that pollution imposes on future generations and is sufficient to induce investment in and adoption of cleaner alternatives. That is what this bill aims to achieve. Once this bill passes, our emissions trading scheme (ETS) will be one of the most efficient and effective tools that we have for meeting our climate targets.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000558\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003ENow, I know that many of the people and the organisations watching what we do here today will have been through an extraordinarily difficult time of late. This bill provides them with the certainty and the clarity about the future that they\u2019ve been asking for. This bill is the product of five years\u2019 work, carefully signposted and consulted upon every step of the way. Its orderly passage through Parliament is important to maintain the certainty and the predictability that has been built up over those years. It is in no one\u2019s interests that the busted market of the ETS remains busted a moment longer. A reformed ETS will lead to investment, which will lead to increased productivity, jobs, and livelihoods, as well as lower pollution levels.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000559\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003EFor New Zealand, as with any country, one of the most difficult aspects of the climate change challenge is to bend the curve of our emissions and get them on to a sustained downward trajectory. This has never before happened in our country. Once that happens, things can move quickly from there, which is exactly what happened in the United Kingdom. Once their emissions started coming down, the rate of decline just kept picking up pace, and even more so as the cost of low carbon alternatives started dropping too. The UK managed to reduce emissions by over 40 percent below 1990 levels whilst maintaining the highest levels of economic growth in the G20. We can achieve something similar here in Aotearoa. This bill, in tandem with the zero carbon Act, will help us to do that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000560\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003ECarbon pricing broadly follows two forms: a carbon tax or a cap and trade approach. Twelve years ago, New Zealand opted for a cap and trade scheme. But previous Governments left out one crucial part: the cap. We got a cap and trade system without a cap, meaning that emissions permitted under the scheme were, in effect, unlimited. Combined with open access to a glut of cheap international units, many of which were fraudulent or non-existent, the New Zealand ETS failed to deliver on its purpose of bringing down emissions. Five years ago, the previous Government reviewed the ETS and kick-started the process that led us here today, and I would like to acknowledge them for that. I\u2019d also like to thank the Environment Committee for its thorough consideration of this bill, the officials from the Ministry for the Environment and the Ministry for Primary Industries who supported them, and the members of the public who took their time to submit their views on it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000561\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003EThis bill can be understood as having four constituent parts. It is about first aligning with the commitment that we have made internationally under the Paris Agreement. Second, it provides the legislative foundation upon which we can start to make real change. Third, it sets the framework for how the emissions trading market will work. And finally, it strengthens the integrity of that market. Each part builds upon the last to create an emissions trading scheme that does what it is meant to do: reduce emissions. Let\u2019s take each part briefly in turn.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000562\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003EAs members will know, the zero carbon legislation that this House unanimously passed last year was consistent with the urgent need to limit average global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as outlined in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u2019s 2018 report. Critically, this bill updates the principal Act to align with our contribution to meeting that goal. This bill also amends the principal Act to lay the foundations for the future of the ETS. Once passed, we can build on what we have in front of us today to better incentivise more organisations to invest in the transition to a clean, climate friendly economy. These steps will happen through regulation, but, as you will have seen in the news this morning, they do include a cap on the total emissions allowed in the ETS and clear rules on auctioning.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000563\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003ENow, as we know, good Governments should seek to play a facilitative role in markets to help create and shape markets, as well as provide the framework within which these markets operate. This bill does exactly that for emissions. For a start, we\u2019re moving away from the scheme\u2019s $25 fixed price options for emissions units. This was always meant to be temporary, but it has ended up as an artificially low ceiling on the cost of emissions. What it will be replaced with is both a price floor and a cost containment reserve. Working in tandem, these mechanisms will stop the price of emissions either getting too low or too high. In effect, then, the gap between them, between the lowest price an emissions unit can drop to and triggering of the cost containment reserve, is where the market will operate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000564\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003EA feature of this market will, of course, be better incentives for afforestation, and I know that there are some concerns about this. It is a simple fact that we need to actually cut emissions right across the economy rather than simply plant more trees to soak up ever-increasing emissions. As a Government, we have listened to those concerns and taken them into account throughout the process that\u2019s got us here today. We must remember that it is the independent experts on the Climate Change Commission who will advise us on the proportion of New Zealand\u2019s emissions budgets that should be met by domestic emissions reductions and domestic emissions removals like forestry. I\u2019m not going to prejudge what they say, but I can tell you this: the commission is required to consider the implications, or the potential implications, of land use change for communities, and that, I hope, will provide the reassurance that people need.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000565\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003EFinally, this bill markedly improves the integrity of the scheme. It will do this in several ways: first, by phasing out free allocation to eligible industries on a fair and predictable pathway. We are also strengthening and simplifying the compliance regime, as well as introducing new infringement offences for low level offending and much stronger penalties for the failure to surrender and repay units. The bill also improves the transparency of the scheme by requiring the Environmental Protection Authority to publish data on participants\u2019 emissions and removals annually. This will build trust in the scheme, providing information to the market and allowing analysts to build a clearer picture on the emissions profile of firms within the scheme.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000566\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003EI often tell the story of the chief executive who said to me during the passage of our zero carbon Act that his young daughter had told him one evening that she no longer wanted to have children, because of the climate crisis. He asked me, \u201CWhat do I say to her?\u201D Well, what I can say is that today, because of this bill, every organisation covered by the emissions trading scheme can start to play a greater part in making this world cleaner and safer, a world that I am sure that chief executive is hoping will one day be home to his grandchildren.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000567\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227c215736-b512-41de-8f0c-6c5543fcfce7\u0022\u003EN\u014D reira, t\u0113n\u0101 koutou, t\u0113n\u0101 koutou, t\u0113n\u0101 t\u0101tou katoa.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022 data-id=\u0022a351ede3fcf141579852bc74967a0a56\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000568\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a351ede3fcf141579852bc74967a0a56\u0022\u003EHon SCOTT SIMPSON (National\u2014Coromandel):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is an interesting bill to be discussing in its second reading, given the post-COVID environment that we find ourselves in. I want to acknowledge Minister James Shaw for a typically thoughtful and considered speech, and we appreciate that from the Opposition benches, because, as became apparent during the passing of the zero carbon Act, I think that there is broad consensus across this parliamentary Chamber on the direction of travel in terms of climate change initiatives and climate change direction.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000569\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003EThere was, as the Minister said, unanimity on the passing of that zero carbon Act, but this is the bill that is the \u201Cdoing\u201D piece. The zero carbon Act was the Act that set up the framework. It\u2019s this piece of legislation, the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill that is the doing piece of the formula. This is the piece of legislation that makes the levers of climate change policy effective and cutting in terms of changing the way things are done, ultimately, on our pathway towards a zero carbon future. And, as the Minister said, we have collectively\u2014across Government and this Parliament\u2014made commitments internationally, first at Paris and then subsequently at various Conferences of Parties since. We as a Parliament take those commitments seriously, and I think it\u2019s important that business, the community, and New Zealanders understand that that commitment is a cross-party commitment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000570\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003EHowever, just as it is with many other aspects of shared general consensus in policy direction, we reserve the right as the Opposition to argue the detail, the fine points of the legislation that\u2019s presented to us in this House. And there are a number of working pieces in this piece of legislation. For most New Zealanders, the intricate details of this emissions trading scheme bill will actually be something that they choose not to try and get their heads around, because, actually, it is complicated. It does deal with concepts that, in many cases, are foreign and unusual and unfamiliar to New Zealanders as individuals, as family members, as community members, and certainly sometimes as business people. But what, effectively, this bill does is give power to the levers that are required to initiate the change that will be required from now on and in years to come to achieve those international commitments that we\u2019ve made, and the commitments that we\u2019ve made to ourselves and to future generations.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000571\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003ENow, that all said, the National Party is going to oppose this legislation at second reading, not necessarily because we are opposed to every aspect of the detail of the legislation, simply put because we don\u2019t think now is the appropriate and right time to be introducing legislation that is, effectively, a further impost on the cost of living, on the way that New Zealanders do business in a post-COVID recovery environment. It\u2019s our view that, notwithstanding the contents of this piece of legislation, actually a 12-month postponement would be the appropriate, sensible, and right thing to do as New Zealand and other nations around the world look to a pathway beyond COVID, because it will be our primary productive, export-led industries and sectors that ultimately lead us out of the position that we find ourselves in through no fault of anyone\u2019s in New Zealand. It\u2019s a challenging environment, and it\u2019s an environment where further costs, further handbrakes on doing business, both domestically and internationally, just aren\u2019t appropriate right now.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000572\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003ESo we\u2019re not saying that this bill is a bad bill. We\u2019re not saying that this bill is a bill that should not, ultimately, proceed. We\u2019re not saying that we agree or disagree with every aspect of the fine detail in the bill. But what we are saying is that a responsible, caring, thoughtful, kind Government would actually understand that the needs of New Zealanders and New Zealand businesses right at the moment is actually an ability to keep trading, to be in business, to recoup and re-stabilise business and enterprise, and, ultimately, to continue making our way collectively in a competitive international market place, where the last thing we need right now is a further impost of handbrakes and hurdles that are going to make our export sector less competitive internationally in a very competitive international market place\u2014probably far more competitive now and in the next year or two than it has been in previous times.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000573\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003EThere are a couple of aspects in the bill that I do want to draw attention to as we proceed, and my colleagues on this side, as this debate continues through this evening, will raise other aspects. But I particularly want to focus on the impact of the reduction in what\u2019s sometimes referred to as the \u201Cfree allocation\u201D, and that raises the prospect of what\u2019s referred to as \u201Ccarbon leakage\u201D. In New Zealand, we are fortunate, in many respects, to be at the bottom of the South Pacific, surrounded by the largest moat in the world, and that brings both advantages and disadvantages. But, in a period by 2050, I can\u2019t imagine a New Zealand that\u2019s not, for instance, going to want to have access to steel, to glass, to fertilisers, to aluminium, to all kinds of products that, if not manufactured here competitively, will have to be imported, arguably from less emissions-efficient countries than our own. And so for organisations such as Methanex, for instance, there are some very real concerns about the future viability of that business and the contribution it makes to our economy, both in terms of the products produced and the people employed.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000574\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003ESimilarly at New Zealand Steel, same sorts of issues, and at O-I Glass in South Auckland\u2014same sorts of issues. Our cement works in Northland, the aluminium smelter at Bluff, and fertiliser companies around the country. And then, perhaps most scary, when we start talking about carbon reducing legislation such as this that is proposed under this emissions trading scheme bill, is the impact, potentially, on the New Zealand Refining Company at Marsden Point. I had an opportunity to visit there during the summer recess and hear some of the particular issues that they have. I was reminded that, until the mid-1960s, New Zealand imported refined fuel from overseas, and that we didn\u2019t do our own\u2014we actually imported it ourselves. And the real risk is that, if we aren\u2019t careful, and if we haven\u2019t got these measures right in this piece of legislation, the potential commercial ramifications for businesses like the New Zealand Refining Company are potentially devastating.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000575\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003EI can\u2019t imagine, even with the best will in the world, as I drive merrily around in my 100 percent electric vehicle, that any time soon we\u2019re not going to need at least some refined fossil fuel to fuel the New Zealand economy through the transition over the next few decades. That will be a requirement. I can\u2019t imagine a situation where we would want to put at risk New Zealand\u2019s capacity, New Zealand\u2019s financial security and economic security of having our own refinery capacity, by our tinkering in a bill like this that potentially puts it all at risk. I don\u2019t think that that is smart or wise.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000576\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003EI do want to just conclude my comments at this point in thanking the large number of submitters who presented on this bill, largely under the cover of COVID, I have to say. We, as an Opposition, felt that a piece of legislation that was as important as this should not have been progressed at the haste and pace that it was by Zoom meetings around the countryside. Now, Zoom meetings go so far, but this is important legislation. It\u2019s important that New Zealanders and New Zealand businesses had an opportunity to be heard respectfully and in an unhurried way. The Government\u2019s had nearly three years to bring this legislation to the House, and they are now, in the final throes of their term, bringing it with a rush and a bustle that I think is unbecoming of legislation that is as important to the future generations of New Zealanders and the actual transition that I think most of us, if not all of us, want to see in terms of a decarbonised economy for the future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000577\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003ESo I want to reiterate that the National Party will be opposing this legislation on the basis that the timing is wrong. Now is not the right time, and we will oppose it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022 data-id=\u002251774d75ea3c492aab3972ab6b948ee9\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000578\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002251774d75ea3c492aab3972ab6b948ee9\u0022\u003EDr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour\u2014Christchurch Central):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Madam Speaker. Mr Simpson, first of all I want to thank you and your team for the hard work that you did on the Environment Committee, and what the committee showed is that, when we work together, we can make real progress. I was surprised to hear you stand up and say that the National Party will oppose this bill, because you know and I know that this bill is good policy and it\u2019s the way forward for New Zealand. Now, I know the National Party\u2019s a conservative party; I know it\u2019s not a party of progress, but we will not do what the National Party did for nine years and sit on our hands. There is always a reason to do nothing. We are not going to do that, and, led by James Shaw, Minister for Climate Change, we are going to stand up and fulfil our international obligations. So this is a party of progress and reform, and this is the time for progress and reform more than ever.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000579\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003EI was interested to hear Mr Simpson talk about industrial allocations. Now, all we are asking\u2014what this bill does is a very, very simple thing. It\u2019s a complex piece of machinery but the principle is simple. It says, \u201CCarbon emitters should bear the cost of their emissions.\u201D, and this is a pricing regime to achieve that. But, as Mr Simpson points out, there are some industries which, if we asked them to bear the full cost, then it\u2019s likely that the industries would move overseas and be less carbon efficient. Now, that can\u2019t go on for ever. We can\u2019t keep giving New Zealand industries a free ride, but we want to transition them.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000580\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003EA really good example of the collaborative work that went on was the considerable refining of the industrial allocation framework. The fact is that, as it stood, it was a relatively blunt tool, but after it went through the committee process, we heard from many, many submitters, and the work of our officials was truly outstanding, under extraordinary circumstances, but we looked at that and said, \u201CWe need to have more flexibility.\u201D It may well be that international conditions are so extraordinary that we need to pause for some industries, but extraordinary is the threshold, not tricky, not competitive, but truly extraordinary, because this is an extraordinary challenge we face. But, equally, these thresholds have been unchanged since 2009. We know that there are industries out there that have been getting a free ride and more, and so we need to be able to increase and improve that reduction as well, to pare it back at a faster rate, if indeed that is appropriate.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000581\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003ESo that\u2019s why we have set up the Climate Change Commission to get the best possible advice, to set up a very robust machinery, and we\u2019ve done all of this in a very collaborative and hard-working way, and it\u2019s great to see that, behind the scenes, outside of this Chamber, we can really cooperate and improve things to make it a much better piece of law for New Zealand. So, with that, I want to commend this bill to the House and say that I\u2019m proud to be part of a Government that is brave enough to move on climate change today.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00224a25943b-cb3b-49c3-bd10-74316fae17f1\u0022 data-id=\u00221e2031238a6843e7a64ad31d397a8971\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000582\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a25943b-cb3b-49c3-bd10-74316fae17f1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221e2031238a6843e7a64ad31d397a8971\u0022\u003EHon JACQUI DEAN (National\u2014Waitaki):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Madam Speaker. I\u2019m very pleased to speak on this emissions trading bill and to really follow on from the Hon Scott Simpson, who gave a comprehensive account of National\u2019s position on this bill and our position to oppose the bill at this stage. I want to take the liberty, as a rurally based MP, as are a number of other National MPs around the House, to really reflect on the implications of bringing the emissions trading scheme (ETS) and bringing agriculture into the ETS at this point, and to reconfirm the point that Scott Simpson made: that it is our position that, in this post-COVID economic environment, it not only makes sense to delay consideration of this bill but it\u2019s almost imperative to delay consideration of this bill for 12 months until there is a greater understanding, there is greater certainty in the context of great uncertainty, of what the future\u2014immediate and medium- and, indeed, long-term future\u2014we do have economically, and particularly for our primary production sectors, which, at the moment, are the sectors that are making the greatest contribution to the New Zealand economy and, it would seem, will be doing so for some time to come.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000583\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a25943b-cb3b-49c3-bd10-74316fae17f1\u0022\u003ETourism is on its knees. I\u2019m not going to stray from the bill very widely, except to confirm that tourism is on its knees\u2014international tourism\u2014and will be so for a couple of years, three years, until those markets regain some traction in New Zealand and there is more confidence in those areas, which is why we can confirm our position\u2014our considered position\u2014of delaying consideration of this bill until more is known about the future of the economy.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000584\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a25943b-cb3b-49c3-bd10-74316fae17f1\u0022\u003EI\u2019d also like to confirm the position that we hold: that National had, and has, a clear criteria that would need to be met before we are comfortable with bringing agriculture into the ETS or, indeed, a similar pricing mechanism. That is\u2014and it\u2019s a message which we have confirmed over a number of years\u2014that there needs to be science-based mitigation of the impacts of agriculture on greenhouse gas emissions. We understand that this bill introduces an emissions trading scheme. We understand that. There are parts of this bill with which we do not disagree, as Scott Simpson mentioned. However, there is a very strong\u2014very strong\u2014push in the New Zealand scientific and agricultural sector to develop science-based mitigation measures.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000585\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a25943b-cb3b-49c3-bd10-74316fae17f1\u0022\u003EIt is almost unfathomable as to why those options are not being more seriously considered. Is it just blind idealism? Well, it could be, because there\u2019s a lot of work being undertaken to support farmers, to support farmers farming their way to better environmental outcomes. Just as they are doing as they\u2019re farming their way to better water quality and land-use outcomes, so they are doing to try to attempt and to further work to reduce their emissions profile.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000586\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a25943b-cb3b-49c3-bd10-74316fae17f1\u0022\u003EI want to also raise the issue of the post-COVID environment impact on our economy, in the context of agriculture still, and to note the comments of the Meat Industry Association of New Zealand. Of course, that is the association which represents New Zealand\u2019s largest manufacturing sector and who say that the proposals will have a significant impact on the economies of rural communities across New Zealand. We\u2019ve just seen, over the past couple of months since 25 March, the impact on rural communities, and, in the context of agriculture, we\u2019ve seen it with meat-processing plants under levels 4 and 3 implementing social distancing practices within their meat works. That has had the impact of reducing production by up to 50 percent. That has had the impact of creating a bottleneck for processing with farmers who wish to quit their lambs, who wish to quit their cull cows, wish to quit their\u2014pigs have been a particular bottleneck. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000587\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a25943b-cb3b-49c3-bd10-74316fae17f1\u0022\u003EOf course, you look behind that again and there are on-farm impacts. Will there be enough feed to carry this extra stock over? Will the condition of the stock still be that which they will get a good price when they eventually get through the meat-processing plants? The reason I\u2019m giving this example: as the Meat Industry Association says, under the ETS regime, \u201CEven a relatively small [reduction] in the amount of livestock being sent to processing sites of between 10-15 percent\u201D\u2014and that is due to depopulation of stock\u2014\u201Cwill likely lead to a number of plant closures\u201D\u2014well, that\u2019s just around the corner\u2014\u201Cand significant job losses, particularly for small towns who are often solely reliant on the local processing plant for jobs,\u201D. That is Tim Ritchie, the chief executive of the Meat Industry Association.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000588\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a25943b-cb3b-49c3-bd10-74316fae17f1\u0022\u003ESo we began to see the impact on small communities because of COVID-19 and now the proposal from this Government, which has New Zealand First as a coalition partner, who are so-called champions of the provinces, in support of this piece of legislation, which has exactly the same impact on small rural communities. I know this\u2014I know this. I live in one of those communities\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000589\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022530ce0c4-c977-40cb-90fb-754f54931ff1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229755ded9d63b43488bf57f10d95596c9\u0022\u003EHon Tracey Martin\u003C/span\u003E: So do I.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000590\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a25943b-cb3b-49c3-bd10-74316fae17f1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022cdd415bd62bd4520b8037f4a4a82c319\u0022\u003EHon JACQUI DEAN\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014which is\u2014well, Tracey Martin says, \u201CSo do I.\u201D Well, she should know better then, shouldn\u2019t she? Because that is the impact of this emissions trading bill. If farmers, if the agriculture sector, are forced to depopulate to make their operations affordable under the ETS, that will be the impact on small communities, because it is not just the farms and the farmers themselves; it\u2019s everybody else in those communities. It is absolutely the lack of confidence in those communities, and we all know what that means. Those of us who live in small communities have seen it during droughts: the supermarket doesn\u2019t trade as much, people leave the district, retail suffers, and people leave town in search of better opportunities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000591\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00224a25943b-cb3b-49c3-bd10-74316fae17f1\u0022\u003EDoes the Minister honestly think\u2014and I\u2019ll be interested when we get to the committee of the whole House stage of this bill, because I will be interested to know what work has been done, what economic work has been done, on the impact of bringing the ETS on small towns in rural New Zealand. Or is the ideology going to prevail in this? Because, under the ideology, there is a reality, and that reality is that, by depopulating stock, this Government is also proposing to depopulate rural New Zealand. For that reason, in this post - COVID-19 economic period, where nothing is known, nothing is certain, it is our belief that we should pause and pick up this work again in 12 months\u2019 time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022bf71a65e-c9f0-4856-902f-1a15c4274e94\u0022 data-id=\u002262085c698cd24c639f497831640832fc\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000592\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bf71a65e-c9f0-4856-902f-1a15c4274e94\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002262085c698cd24c639f497831640832fc\u0022\u003EMARK PATTERSON (NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E It is a pleasure to rise and confirm NZ First\u2019s support for this Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000593\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bf71a65e-c9f0-4856-902f-1a15c4274e94\u0022\u003EIt is with a sense of bemusement that I listened to the previous speaker, Jacqui Dean, because let\u2019s go back to why we\u2019re here: we\u2019re trying to address issues around climate change. We are trying to meet targets set for us and agreed by us under the Paris Agreement. Those were signed by the New Zealand National Party when they were leading the last Government, in 2015. Paula Bennett swanned off over there, swanned off on to the international stage, and they\u2019ve come back here\u2014that\u2019s 2015, and here we are in 2020\u2014and they\u2019re still talking about kicking the can down the road. None of this stuff is easy, and I will absolutely agree with all the previous speakers. This is far-reaching and wide ranging legislation which the House and the select committee has had to look very, very carefully at. I understand this particular iteration of the bill is six years in the making. This is highly complex stuff, but we do not have the luxury of just forever pushing it out to another day. We do have to take some action.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000594\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bf71a65e-c9f0-4856-902f-1a15c4274e94\u0022\u003EIn terms of farmers, of which I am one, we are the most impacted by climate change. You don\u2019t have to look far: for this year we\u2019ve had three-quarters of the country in drought; there have been floods everywhere. And, whilst those things are not unprecedented, they are certainly becoming more frequent. All the statistics tell us this. We are reliant on international action, and to get international action we have to do our bit. So, in terms of fulfilling our obligations and what this bill looks to do, it just updates the current setting, set in 2009. It does put some price levers in there. That is absolutely imperative. It is about giving businesses certainty, giving them a pathway to reduce their emissions, so that we can meet our overall targets and our 2030 targets. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000595\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bf71a65e-c9f0-4856-902f-1a15c4274e94\u0022\u003EThese are the levers contained within this bill. We have got a floor in there, at $20\u2014and remember, the price collapsed under the last Government down to about $3. That sends no signal at all. We had the forestry sector\u2014essentially, planting collapse. We had deforestation under those circumstances. So we are putting a floor in there, to give some certainty for people like myself, actually, that are looking at the moment at planting some of our less productive areas in trees, which is an absolutely appropriate thing to do. It does give me some diversification of income, and it\u2019s a better land use for those rough faces and the like. It also extends a fixed priced option for $35 out to 2021, just to give some certainty. But then the cost containment reserve kicks in. And, whilst it\u2019s not in the bill, the regulations that the Government\u2014the Minister\u2014has set out show that there will be a $50 maximum, and that is a big price in terms of where it has sat traditionally, but that is the sort of certainty we need to give businesses: that that is the direction it\u2019s heading. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000596\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bf71a65e-c9f0-4856-902f-1a15c4274e94\u0022\u003EWithin that, New Zealand First has sought some assurances from the Minister within this process that the mechanisms are there, should that price get too high, and should the levers suggest that we\u2019ll have widespread afforestation over and above what is good for our rural communities, and for the reasons that Jacqui Dean rightfully raised. And the Minister has given us an assurance\u2014and we\u2019ve gone through this in some detail\u2014that those measures sit within the zero carbon bill: the Climate Change Commission and the Minister must take into account the social and economic impacts of any measures brought forward in terms of setting future targets. So those mechanisms already exist and will be used should things go in a direction that is not in the best interests of our country and our rural communities.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000597\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bf71a65e-c9f0-4856-902f-1a15c4274e94\u0022\u003EThere\u2019s more transparency in this, which I\u2019ve already discussed. Actually, in the farming\u2014the members opposite must have missed the press conference where Katie Milne, the president of Federated Farmers; Andrew Morrison, the chairman of Beef \u002B Lamb New Zealand; and Jim van der Poel, the chairman of DairyNZ, were with the Prime Minister and Minister Shaw and others with the He Waka Eke Noa initiative, which actually gives farming a pause. It actually puts them in the driving seat to design their own systems so that they are fairly captured. I think it\u2019s imperative that we have the accounting system properly sorted out so things like riparian plantings or, potentially, soil sequestration are taken into account when we\u2019re accounting for what the liabilities are\u2014or, indeed, the credits that some farmers may, in fact, benefit from from this legislation. So the farmers are very much in the driving seat as to how that scheme is going to be worked through. Within that, there\u2019s a 95 percent offset. There will be only 5 percent liability in terms of the initial impact on farmers. There\u2019ll be 95 percent free allocation, which is something that New Zealand First advocated for and got and won in the coalition negotiations with Labour.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000598\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bf71a65e-c9f0-4856-902f-1a15c4274e94\u0022\u003ESo, as I say, it is a wide-reaching policy, wide-reaching ramifications. We don\u2019t want to see carbon leakage unnecessarily, but we do have to transition our economy. We have to get freight on to rail, and that\u2019s one of the reasons that we advocate so strongly within New Zealand First for rail. We have to actually do something. We don\u2019t want to be just kicking the can down the road for another 12 months to wait for another committee report. We actually have to get some measures in place. So, without too much further ado, I will commend this bill to the House. It is a wide-ranging bill. We will have to work with our sheep and beef sector. We will have to work with our forestry sector. We will have to work with our industrial and transport sector, and we will have to work with our carbon sink permanent forestry people as well, in getting some native bush into some of those erosion-prone areas that may not be suited to forestry or particularly sheep and beef farming.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000599\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022bf71a65e-c9f0-4856-902f-1a15c4274e94\u0022\u003ESo this is a really important bill. I commend the Minister for his tenaciousness in this and this Government, particularly for being brave and actually facing up to our international responsibilities\u2014actually taking some responsibility for ourselves, not just setting off trying to buy our way out of this by buying carbon offsets from offshore, of which many were found to be fraudulent, which is an absolute bonfire of taxpayer money. This from a Government that\u2019s accusing us of not having a plan or not being fiscally responsible\u2014just to set that money alight, essentially, by buying fraudulent Ukrainian carbon credits. I could go on, but on that matter, I will commend this bill to the House. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022eaf79431-1033-44f1-a633-22633da52c0d\u0022 data-id=\u0022c0024e03fe88447caf0a09d3f4201bcd\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000600\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eaf79431-1033-44f1-a633-22633da52c0d\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022c0024e03fe88447caf0a09d3f4201bcd\u0022\u003EHon DAVID BENNETT (National\u2014Hamilton East):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Speaker. New Zealand is blessed to have the best farmers in the world, and our farmers are the best because we can adapt to markets better than anybody else, because our farmers don\u2019t have supports, regulation, and control like other farmers do around the world that makes them inefficient and unable to meet market demand and market requirements. Nobody in this House is saying that there isn\u2019t change going on in consumer preference; everybody understands that, farmers understand that, and farmers will meet those market preference changes as they can. We need to give them the ability to do that and not have it forced from Government regulation all and every time through this House by stringent rules that don\u2019t take into account the need for good science to back up any change.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000601\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eaf79431-1033-44f1-a633-22633da52c0d\u0022\u003ENow, many members of the other side will come out and they\u2019ll say, \u201CFarmers have got a break.\u201D That\u2019s what the last member said: \u201CThis gives farmers a pause.\u201D But it does not really give farmers a pause. The commission has the ability, and the Minister has the ability, effectively, to force farming into this scheme if they feel they haven\u2019t done enough by the time it gets to the cut-off date of 2022, and, effectively, bring everybody in in 2025 then. It isn\u2019t a pause. If it was going to be a pause, they would follow the leadership of the Hon Scott Simpson, who said, \u201CLet\u2019s take a bit of time, work through, and then when you\u2019re ready bring it in.\u201D But when you\u2019ve got it over people\u2019s head that it\u2019s going to come in if a Minister determines you haven\u2019t done enough, that isn\u2019t a pause; that is an effective challenge to that industry around what is going to happen from this Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000602\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eaf79431-1033-44f1-a633-22633da52c0d\u0022\u003EWe need to make sure that there is a practical and scientific base to the challenges we\u2019re putting on our sectors. Now, a number of our speakers tonight have talked about the importance of the primary sector in getting New Zealand out of the hole we\u2019re in now as a result of the funding that has been spent on the COVID recovery\u2014that goes without saying. We all know that New Zealand will rely on our primary sector to pay the bills in the next few years. As our members have said, why then do you sting that sector with inefficiency, with Government regulation, and dogmatic control from Government, when they could actually be making more change if they let it happen in a more organic way? And that is the crucial success of New Zealand farming in the past and it will be the success in the future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000603\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eaf79431-1033-44f1-a633-22633da52c0d\u0022\u003EI was just looking at a document this afternoon and it talked about the Dutch approach, not necessarily to this bill but to sustainability. Look at this: \u201CInnovation is a key commitment to sustainability.\u201D\u2014twice as much food, half as many resources. The Dutch, for the size of their country, are now the number two exporters of food produce by value in the world. That is because they have met the market around them, and New Zealand farmers can outperform the Dutch farmers if we give them that chance. The problem we have is if we set too many rules, too many regulations without the ability for farmers to meet those rules and regulations through good science, and with the threat on them that, if a Minister determines they haven\u2019t done enough, they will then be included in a scheme that would be detrimental if it is enacted at a very high level, that means that our farmers could potentially lose some of that efficiency. They could potentially lose some of that judgment they will make in making sure that they produce products in a way that will meet the world market going forward.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000604\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022eaf79431-1033-44f1-a633-22633da52c0d\u0022\u003ESo I trust our New Zealand farmers to meet the demands of world markets. I trust them to work as hard as they can, under the constraints that science and technology will allow, to do the best they can for our environment so that they sell the best products on the world stage. That will achieve more, I believe, than a Government trying to regulate. Give them that market ability to do what they\u2019re doing now and they will deliver to you more than a Government trying to threaten them and have over them this constraint. So this bill, the National Party can\u2019t support, because we believe that at this time it\u2019s really important that New Zealand look at its financial progress going forward. But also, importantly, I believe we also need to trust our farmers, to trust our producers, because they know the markets they\u2019re going into, they know the demands of the consumers there, and they will meet those demands with the best capability they have in New Zealand at this time, and that trust is more important, I believe, in this situation. Thank you, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022 data-id=\u0022e29c03cbdebb4cdea4507b1234c759ca\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000605\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022e29c03cbdebb4cdea4507b1234c759ca\u0022\u003EANGIE WARREN-CLARK (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Speaker. To the member who just resumed his seat, David Bennett, we do trust farmers, and that\u2019s why we\u2019ve entered into a historic agreement with them to reduce their emissions alongside the Government.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000606\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022e60c1237-5e2d-4d0a-9678-ab10db67d1b7\u0022\u003EI\u2019d just like to take a very brief call. This is a weighty and complex bill\u2014410 pages of goodness\u2014and I especially want to thank our officials for their support, including their outstanding briefings. I heard the call from the Opposition saying that we should pause and slow down. Well, the environment can\u2019t wait. We\u2019ve waited too long, and therefore I commend this bill to the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022275c91f8-c6b8-42fd-b3ab-d8fc000dd41f\u0022 data-id=\u00220323361e2cfb4a84a186d79314dd7fdb\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000607\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022275c91f8-c6b8-42fd-b3ab-d8fc000dd41f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00220323361e2cfb4a84a186d79314dd7fdb\u0022\u003EERICA STANFORD (National\u2014East Coast Bays):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am very pleased to take a call on the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill at the second reading. As has already been noted by my colleagues, we will be opposing this legislation at second reading. To be honest, for many of us, it is with somewhat of a heavy heart because at first reading we did support the bill and many of the proposals in it\u2014as we still do, some of those proposals\u2014but we are not living in the same world that we were living in when this bill was introduced. The global pandemic of COVID-19 has changed many, many things, and New Zealand is going to be recovering from this virus, in economic terms, for many, many years\u2014potentially the next decade.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000608\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022275c91f8-c6b8-42fd-b3ab-d8fc000dd41f\u0022\u003EBefore I get into my speech, I\u2019d just like to thank officials. As others have noted, officials worked very hard on this bill, not just for the period that the select committee\u2019s been looking at the bill but, actually, for many years prior to this. More recently, they have, as Scott Simpson pointed out, been dealing with us via Zoom and putting up with the many questions that we had. As has been pointed out already, this is an extremely detailed piece of legislation. It has been, frankly, quite tough to get our heads around many of those details, and officials put up with us asking a lot of questions, bringing them back for many, many briefings, especially when it came to things like forestry.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000609\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022275c91f8-c6b8-42fd-b3ab-d8fc000dd41f\u0022\u003EThere has been a general consensus on climate change across the House. Our general direction of travel is all mostly in the same direction. We always have our differences, but we are moving in the same direction. The zero carbon bill, we agreed on and voted for, but, as Scott Simpson mentioned earlier, this is just the framework; this bill that we are debating today is the meat. As Scott Simpson said, it\u2019s the \u201Cdoing\u201D. This bill is going to have the most effect on New Zealanders. Most people won\u2019t get their heads around the detail of this bill. It is massively complicated, and it was, like I say, even tough for us to get our heads around. But what people will understand\u2014what they will understand\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000610\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022428b8ec66ccc47e585cc40102de6bdbc\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Not you, Erica.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000611\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022275c91f8-c6b8-42fd-b3ab-d8fc000dd41f\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d9af46bae17f4bfc84999089b95977a6\u0022\u003EERICA STANFORD\u003C/span\u003E: \u2014nice one\u2014is the increase in cost to their daily lives. Fuel, groceries, and building costs\u2014these are the things that are going to be impacted by the passing of this bill. Costs and handbrakes for doing business into recovering our economy are not required right now.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000612\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022275c91f8-c6b8-42fd-b3ab-d8fc000dd41f\u0022\u003EAs Scott Simpson pointed out, we agree with many aspects of the bill and the overall direction. We started the process of looking at this bill with an open mind, but, as I said, COVID has changed everything, and, as was pointed out already, we do want to look at this bill again in 12 months, after we\u2019ve got a far better understanding of the economic damage that COVID is going to do to the economy. I mean, at the moment, thousands of people unemployed, people are calling for the councils to reduce their rates or to have zero rates increases, and here we\u2019re introducing, potentially, a bill that is going to increase the cost of almost everything for New Zealanders, and it\u2019s important that we pause and take that into account.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000613\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022275c91f8-c6b8-42fd-b3ab-d8fc000dd41f\u0022\u003EOne of the things that we looked at\u2014or I, certainly, looked at\u2014very early on, was I had a really good look at what National did when we were in Government. We had a fixed-price $25 price cap that was deliberately put in place to protect households and businesses from costs. Now, we\u2019ve had a few speakers today talk about this bill giving certainty, but, in fact, it does quite the opposite. What we did by introducing the price cap, which began, I think, at, effectively, about $12.50 and was increased over time\u2014gradually lifted\u2014was to give certainty over time for business. This bill removes that cap altogether, meaning no limit\u2014well, there\u2019s a price ceiling, but it for the most part doesn\u2019t give certainty to businesses for fuel and electricity, and indeed gives, actually, significant uncertainty for businesses for future costs. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000614\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022275c91f8-c6b8-42fd-b3ab-d8fc000dd41f\u0022\u003EIn a post-COVID world, what we need is certainty for businesses moving forward as we recover. Consumers and businesses need some reassurance about how much the price will be allowed to rise. I note that there was a press release today from James Shaw, and, if anyone was reading it, they will look at figures like the new cap on the emissions trading scheme (ETS) of 160 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, but what does that actually mean? What does that mean for the price of fuel, for the price of electricity, or for the price of goods? Saying something like that is all well and good, but what that means for everyday New Zealanders in a post-COVID world, when people are out of work and out of jobs and have lost their livelihoods, is a completely different thing, and we need certainty around that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000615\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022275c91f8-c6b8-42fd-b3ab-d8fc000dd41f\u0022\u003EWe\u2019ve already heard from our agricultural spokesperson, David Bennett, so I\u2019m not going to go into that again. But, basically, the forcing of the agricultural sector into the ETS if they don\u2019t meet certain targets by the 2022 date, which is fast approaching, in our view is not good policy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000616\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022275c91f8-c6b8-42fd-b3ab-d8fc000dd41f\u0022\u003EI just want to finish by reiterating the fact that, in the first instance, we had an open mind to this bill. We were prepared to sit\u2014and, in fact, we did\u2014for many, many weeks, discussing the detail of this bill and how we could make it work. But since the introduction of COVID to the world, and since the economic damage that has been wrecked on this country, we don\u2019t believe that we\u2019re in a position to be introducing what is, basically, a tax that will increase the cost of living for every single New Zealander at a time when we need to be working out how we reduce costs of living and increasing certainty for businesses, not taking it away. For those reasons, we oppose the bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022 data-id=\u00221d21c00e32ed4c9bbcd3a3b59cbea50e\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000617\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221d21c00e32ed4c9bbcd3a3b59cbea50e\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: This is a split call. I call the Hon David Parker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022 data-id=\u0022a0382bd4cd0f447886d428430152ab17\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000618\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022a0382bd4cd0f447886d428430152ab17\u0022\u003EHon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment):\u003C/span\u003E Can I thank the Hon James Shaw for bringing this bill to the House. It\u2019s the first substantial reform that we\u2019ve seen to the emissions trading scheme (ETS) since 2008, and it actually counters some of the measures that were passed by the last Government that, effectively, neutered the ETS.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000619\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003EWhen the ETS was passed in 2008, the price of carbon by the time of the election was about $20 a tonne. The economy was not suffering at all, but we had a price signal to reduce emissions. The effective cap on price on that was through the international linkages to the international Kyoto market. There was an oversupply of Kyoto units caused by the US withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, but because those units had a future value because they were fungible into future emission periods, that didn\u2019t cause the price of carbon to go to nothing. The Kyoto Protocol\u2019s second period never eventuated, and countries, including New Zealand, pulled out of it, and I think New Zealand was right to pull out of it. But, because of that, the excess units that sat in the Kyoto pool had only one home to go to in the world, and that was New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000620\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003EThe last Government, who had already neutered the effectiveness of the scheme by a two-for-one scheme\u2014so that you only needed to remit one emission unit for every two units of emissions, which made no sense\u2014further moderated it by having a $25 price cap. So, effectively, they caused the price cap to go to $12.50 per unit, down from $20, and then they let the price collapse to close to zero because they didn\u2019t close the New Zealand system to those Ukrainian hot air units that other people have already talked about. That was an egregious mistake that was left in place by the last Government. It caused major deforestation on the volcanic plateau, caused a collapse in forest planting, and caused emissions to increase, all of which are the opposite of what an emissions scheme is meant to achieve.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000621\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003ETheir next mistake was that they, effectively, muted the marginal price signal. The price signal is meant to penalise an increase in emissions and reward decreases. They did neither of those things through their changing of the free allocation methodology for industrial emitters. They then took out the 50 percent of emissions that were included in agriculture, and you can see that, by the end of that, they had effectively dismantled the scheme, even though they added in name. So this reform package actually restores it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000622\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003ESince we\u2019ve come to power, in fairness, Paula Bennett took away the two-for-one deal, and the price for carbon once the system was closed to international emissions units returned to $25 a tonne, and the economy hasn\u2019t suffered at all for it. Because we\u2019re now closed to overseas units, you actually have to have another method of setting price other than the international market, and that\u2019s why this system moves to auctioning, with a cost containment reserve which is set at $35. The market won\u2019t automatically move there. Indeed, in response to one of the other speakers\u2019 comments, I would note that post-COVID, the price for a while dropped to around $20 a tonne, which was a market response to the decrease in demand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000623\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f5d71749-ae91-4af7-b2bd-77260398912a\u0022\u003EThis does return the ETS to some measure of authenticity, and on that basis, the Labour Party is pleased to support it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022 data-id=\u002249d8941fb9f64473a5254d8762eaa0d4\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000624\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002249d8941fb9f64473a5254d8762eaa0d4\u0022\u003EHon NATHAN GUY (National\u2014\u014Ctaki):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. This is a very, very interesting bill and one that is technically very, very complex. At the second reading this evening\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000625\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223048cf5611f245ccb9001fa0cb036c2e\u0022\u003EDavid Seymour\u003C/span\u003E: Tell us all about it. In detail.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000626\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ae6c69e30e7d41e3a0d1b624228f33dd\u0022\u003EHon NATHAN GUY\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019ve sat on the select committee and actually done a few Zoom meetings through COVID-19, Mr Seymour, looked up people\u2019s nostrils and saw their hairs, looked at officials and nodded, and asked them questions. But what a shonky process to go through this bill and try and interrogate officials through a COVID-19 response when we had to do that through Zoom and the like. I felt it was a shambolic process. We should\u2019ve at least waited until the Parliament opened up and came back and got on with it. But this bill here is 314 pages long. Then lo and behold, the Minister for Climate Change, midway through the process, dropped Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) 506 into the committee, which is\u2014let me get it right\u2014410 pages. So here we have it, we\u2019ve got the bill, we\u2019ve got SOP 506\u2014for those of you at home listening, this is almost a ream of paper. You pop down to the store and purchase a ream every now and again for your home computer, that\u2019s what we\u2019re debating tonight. For those also listening, you can bet your bottom dollar there\u2019ll be errors riddled through this process because it has been rushed; that is one aspect that I am most concerned about with this bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000627\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EThe other one is that this is where the rubber hits the road. We had some concerns about zero carbon, came through on the bottom line and said, \u201CIf we\u2019re lucky enough to be in Government next time, we\u2019ll change certain things.\u201D Now this one, we are concerned about all of the detail in this bill not having due process, and\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000628\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022098b8334-57f8-4062-bac6-bfbc3474e88e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002263757452a1024c2fb7a9a306601c0e3d\u0022\u003EMichael Wood\u003C/span\u003E: Tell us about the detail.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000629\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022750e6f988f6c4d3caf3029f9d245a668\u0022\u003EHon NATHAN GUY\u003C/span\u003E: Well, the cheeky little whip over there wants to know about detail. Well, he should get down into rural heartland and find out about the detail, find out about the cost that it\u2019s going to incur on consumers in his electorate. This is going to put the fuel price up. He\u2019s now nodding because he loves it because he\u2019s a Labour MP. He loves the food price going up. This is going to put the fuel price up. He\u2019s nodding. No, he\u2019s not; he\u2019s shaking his head. Well, he hasn\u2019t read the detail like I have. This is going to put the price of electricity up. Does he agree with that? No, he hasn\u2019t read the detail. The cheeky little whip over there comes down here and casts their vote. He\u2019s not across 700-odd pages like I am. And he has the cheek to come down here and say, \u201CGive us some examples of the detail.\u201D I just have.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000630\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022695ffda663494eab8989b38337d4af58\u0022\u003EHon Scott Simpson\u003C/span\u003E: He needs to get a haircut and a real job.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000631\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229854d3f1b54d4c639bca3321e3a68fa0\u0022\u003EHon NATHAN GUY\u003C/span\u003E: Yeah, he does. You\u2019re right, Mr Simpson. What I also want to talk about is this\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000632\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022f0e5f861024c4a99bcf7d11c3c2bf721\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: The bill.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000633\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022c602c040d7ab47c2981fc5d9fda66d5f\u0022\u003EHon NATHAN GUY\u003C/span\u003E: I\u2019ve just talked about that, the detail of this bill, and in particular the SOP.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000634\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EI want to talk about farming communities, because, while farming leaders have come forward and provided a solution to stop this Government imposing a tax at processer level, which is not going to change behaviour inside the farm gate, farming leaders came to the Government and said, \u201CCome on, let\u2019s work with us.\u201D So I salute those farming leaders that came up with a proposal called He Waka Eke Noa. And, of course, the Government hoodwinked these rural leaders, because they put out the press releases on the day and said, \u201CThis is a historical agreement. Farming leaders have agreed that agriculture\u2019s coming into the emissions trading scheme.\u201D Well, farming leaders didn\u2019t agree to that; so Government Ministers hoodwinked them, and it\u2019s in the bill here. It\u2019s in the SOP.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000635\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EWhat this means in 2022 is that Government Ministers, the Minister for Climate Change and the Minister of Agriculture, will be able to get together and, if farmers haven\u2019t done their farm plans, they\u2019ll be back to the farming community and those leaders saying, \u201CWe\u2019re going to bring this in, a tax at processor level.\u201D Farming leaders didn\u2019t completely realise that that\u2019s what they had signed up to. This SOP 506 has all of that detail in it, 410 pages covering that aspect and others off.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000636\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EThe other thing I want to conclude on is that we are concerned about\u2014also, when I think about rural communities, we don\u2019t have riparian planting included in this process. We don\u2019t have any of the shelter belts included in this process. We don\u2019t have\u2014this is all to do with offsetting emissions. They aren\u2019t included. When farmers do the right thing and protect bush that is rejuvenating, that is not included. Officials said, \u201CDon\u2019t worry, we\u2019re going to do some more work. We\u2019ve been instructed by Ministers to do it but it\u2019s going to take us another couple of years and probably another 400 pages of work.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022 data-id=\u0022638a11cb214b4df9bd337ed71d70af82\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000637\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022638a11cb214b4df9bd337ed71d70af82\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: Order. The member\u2019s time has expired. This is a split call. I call David Seymour.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022 data-id=\u002245458f2fefb14573b385e900708d58c2\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000638\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002245458f2fefb14573b385e900708d58c2\u0022\u003EDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader\u2014ACT):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT in opposition to the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill. I thought that the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw, started his speech very well when he said the objective of climate change policy should be to ensure that carbon emissions are priced at the cost they will impose on future generations. He might have added a couple of other details. One is that it should be done in the most administratively simple way possible. Another is that it should be done using market-based mechanisms so that consumers\u2014households, families\u2014have choices about how they spend and producers\u2014farms, factories\u2014have choices about how they produce. And another thing he might have said is that this legislation has to ensure that New Zealand does not shoot itself in the foot and penalise itself by exceeding the ambition of other countries, who dominate the climate. That\u2019s what he should have said: \u201Can administratively simple, market-based mechanism that allows New Zealanders to do their bit freely and with choice but that doesn\u2019t penalise New Zealand by needlessly getting ahead of our competitors around the world\u201D.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000639\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003EThe problem with this bill\u2014well, let\u2019s start with the administrative simplicity. It\u2019s 400 pages with a Supplementary Order Paper that\u2019s 300 pages. That\u2019s 300 pages of notes to fix up all the problems that have been found with it since the bill was introduced just a few months ago. If that is simplicity, I hate to think what it\u2019s going to be like for those producers and consumers trying to do business under this bill. And it gets worse, because it doesn\u2019t achieve the things that the Minister said. It\u2019s not a market-based mechanism; it allows the Government to decide how much carbon dioxide should be emitted by New Zealanders. Then it\u2019s allowed to decide how much by each sector. And then it says, \u201CWait, wait\u2014that sounds a bit harsh.\u201D It then has\u2014what are they calling it?\u2014a \u201Ccost-containment reserve\u201D. In other words, so that they can contain the costs for favoured industries. This is a big Government bill that introduces enormous bureaucracy, enormous discrimination, into the way that climate change is managed in New Zealand. And that is a step backwards, particularly at the current time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000640\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003ENeed I remind the House\u2014and the people listening at home certainly know\u2014this is a country that has just had its Reserve Bank embark on $90 billion of virtual money printing; that has just undertaken to borrow 30 percent of GDP; and that has a net external indebtedness that means that, if people overseas lose confidence in New Zealand\u2019s economy, we will find ourselves deeply indebted, trying to pay back the rest of the world with a currency that has gone through the tank. That\u2019s the situation in which this Government is introducing new costs and new bureaucracy that have no connection to what the rest of the world is prepared to do on to the productive sector. It is a recipe for disaster. Which leaves the question: what should they have done?\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000641\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003EWell, it\u2019s not actually that complicated. What they should have done is say that New Zealanders who wish to emit carbon dioxide must buy emissions units at a price set by the world market, of a quality specified by the New Zealand Government. That way, New Zealanders would be paying no more and no less than our overseas competitors. Under this bill, we face scenarios where our competitors for our farms or our factories are buying cheaper units overseas and the New Zealand Government says, \u201COh no, New Zealanders can\u2019t buy them.\u201D That\u2019s how simple it could have been, but instead we have 700 pages of bureaucracy at a time when the New Zealand economy has never been more fragile. This is a disaster for climate change response, a disaster for the economy, and a bill that I am proud to oppose on behalf of ACT. Thank you, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022 data-id=\u00221deecdc3d2fb4fc7bcaf123510f8c2eb\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000642\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00221deecdc3d2fb4fc7bcaf123510f8c2eb\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: I call Dr Liz Craig\u2014five minutes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u00223c5917bd-9c2f-4bdf-af2f-b13cd1a2c8bb\u0022 data-id=\u00227b4a650c97e141ae9cbca5764817eaf2\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000643\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00223c5917bd-9c2f-4bdf-af2f-b13cd1a2c8bb\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00227b4a650c97e141ae9cbca5764817eaf2\u0022\u003EDr LIZ CRAIG (Labour):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Speaker. It\u2019s an absolute pleasure to stand in support of this bill, because this bill is incredibly important in giving us the tools that we need to meet our commitments under the Paris Agreement and also to achieve our targets under the zero carbon Act. I\u2019d like to thank all the officials who worked so hard on the bill and everyone who made a submission. I commend this bill to the House.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022 data-id=\u0022647214e8ca6f491f9e3fe125be5b24bc\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000644\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022647214e8ca6f491f9e3fe125be5b24bc\u0022\u003EBARBARA KURIGER (National\u2014Taranaki - King Country):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Speaker. It\u2019s a pleasure to stand here and speak on this climate change bill tonight. As you\u2019ve already heard from the previous speakers, National is opposing this bill. If I go and begin with Minister James Shaw\u2019s speech today, talking about giving businesses and foresters the certainty they\u2019ve been asking for, businesses have been asking for certainty for the last few weeks, and bringing this bill into the House and chopping down a few more trees is not giving businesses the certainty that they\u2019re asking for. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000645\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s been really interesting through this whole lockdown process because, for the last 2\u00BD years, farmers have really felt like the butt of everything, and then all of a sudden, we get COVID-19, unfortunately\u2014a terrible global pandemic that\u2019s hit the world. We\u2019ve been very lucky in New Zealand to get away with the small amount of COVID deaths that we\u2019ve had, and I feel sad for the families of those people that have passed away, but, really, we have had a good health result in this country. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000646\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022\u003EBut what was really interesting during that time was that we didn\u2019t hear much about how bad the farmers were. We heard so much about how the farmers were going to be integral in getting our economy up and running, and, boy, does our economy need to be getting up and running again right now. It was really interesting about some of the dynamics that were going on with the cars off the road and with the planes out of the air and all of those sorts of things. There was still the same amount of cows, and guess what! The world didn\u2019t come to an end. So, you know, the cows are one part of it, but the cows are not all the parts of it. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000647\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022\u003EThe thing that really gutted me the most was that, every day, I was walking down the walkway in Taranaki and it was just amazing how clear everything was. The day we went into having takeaways and everything else opened up again\u2014and we do need to open up businesses again\u2014what distressed me the most was that the rubbish tins were overflowing. So we are all in this together. This is not just about the farmers and the businesses; this is actually about our whole community taking responsibility, because one of the biggest gases that we have in this world is from food waste. I see an awful lot of food waste every day. Farmers go out of their way to produce this food in an efficient way, and it\u2019s time that food waste was taken into account. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000648\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022\u003ESo, on this side of the House, National believes that you cannot tax a country into prosperity, and that\u2019s whether it\u2019s economic prosperity or whether it\u2019s environmental prosperity. So it\u2019s the same way that you cannot tax a country out of climate change. We are trying to meet global targets here, and that\u2019s what the Paris Agreement was about. It was about doing our bit. It\u2019s not about doing more than our bit, and our farmers would be the only farmers in the world who would be in an emissions trading scheme under the regime of this Government. What we don\u2019t need is tax; what we need is tools. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000649\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022\u003ESo, while this Government is obsessed\u2014and we see it time and time again\u2014with saying that they\u2019re the best in the world at everything, our farmers are some of the most efficient farmers in the world. We have a huge amount of intellectual property that we can offer the world in helping to lower these global emissions if we\u2019re not taxed into a space where the money\u2019s going into some administrative scheme rather than actually going towards the science that we need. We need science-based mitigation, not money going into a hole where it\u2019s administrated and someone will take their chunk out of it. How much will ever go back into research? \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000650\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022\u003ESo we support the farmers farming their way into better environmental outcomes, and the income will follow. Tax, as I said, just goes into an administrative pool, and I wonder why we are doing this during COVID-19. We need our resourceful industries like we never did before, and this is a whole backward step at this point in time. Why couldn\u2019t we wait 12 months? Why couldn\u2019t we actually get a better bill, rather than the legislation that\u2019s now being fixed, and put it into some sort of context where we could actually live with it? So this is actually a very messy process. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000651\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022\u003EAs many people who sat on the Environment Committee have said\u2014and I didn\u2019t sit on the committee\u2014it was done during lockdown. I speak very highly of Zoom. I\u2019m sure Zoom has actually helped the climate over the period of the lockdown, because we\u2019ve been able to be efficient and do a lot of things. But, to some extent, it has also not given our submitters the best chance to be able to engage with this while they\u2019ve all been away worried about their families getting sick, worrying about the economy, worrying about keeping their businesses afloat\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000652\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002208491aac36314cb99d2121703af370cc\u0022\u003EHon Scott Simpson\u003C/span\u003E: An insult to democracy. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000653\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022bcb2b55d1acc4b58adcab69448600116\u0022\u003EBARBARA KURIGER\u003C/span\u003E: You\u2019re right. My colleague Scott Simpson just simply said it was an insult to democracy, and it is. It\u2019s like sneaking something under the radar and bringing it back into the House. If you divided the amount of pages in here by the amount of MPs that are currently sitting in the House at question time, which is half, it\u2019s a great insult to democracy to bring this up right now. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000654\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022\u003ESo I just say, look, let\u2019s give farmers the opportunity, and I commend the farming leaders\u2019 groups. The farming leaders\u2019 groups have got their heads together and said, \u201CLet\u2019s find the answers to this.\u2019 But the answers are not in taxing the farmers. All they want to know is where are we today, and they\u2019ve got a pretty good handle on that. They need to know where they\u2019ve got to go, and they\u2019re looking for the tools that actually drive the change to get to the end outcome. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000655\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022\u003ESo I have much pleasure tonight in standing here and opposing this bill, because I think it\u2019s the wrong bill for the wrong time. Yes, we do need to get global emissions down, but this\u2014and the multiple trees that were cut down to do it\u2014is certainly not the way for it to happen. So thank you, Mr Speaker. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022 data-id=\u0022747731bb0da5436ea05e001b5f943bbc\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000656\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022747731bb0da5436ea05e001b5f943bbc\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: I call Michael Wood. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000657\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002276ca4afdc07c4fa0b2a1ae624e921fed\u0022\u003EHon Nathan Guy\u003C/span\u003E: This\u2019ll be the detail man. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022098b8334-57f8-4062-bac6-bfbc3474e88e\u0022 data-id=\u00224b4dbbc435e54cb0b7c644cfc6d5d9e2\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000658\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022098b8334-57f8-4062-bac6-bfbc3474e88e\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00224b4dbbc435e54cb0b7c644cfc6d5d9e2\u0022\u003EMICHAEL WOOD (Labour\u2014Mt Roskill):\u003C/span\u003E That\u2019s right, I thought that Mr Guy deserved to hear from the \u201Ccheeky little whip\u201D a little bit about the bill that he avoided for five minutes. It was Albert Einstein who told us that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and not expecting the same result. We know that tackling climate change is one of the great imperatives of our time. We know that for no single sustained period in New Zealand\u2019s industrial history have we succeeded in reducing emissions. We know that the current emissions trading regime that\u2019s been in place for nearly 12 years in different guises hasn\u2019t been especially successful at doing that, either. We know that price is actually a pretty good mechanism for guiding people\u2019s economic behaviour.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000659\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022098b8334-57f8-4062-bac6-bfbc3474e88e\u0022\u003EI do acknowledge the member on the other side of the House, David Seymour, for enunciating on that point this afternoon. The supposed party of free enterprise, who usually has a lot to say about that, has completely avoided that point over the course of this debate. Because what this bill does is finish the work that was started 12 years ago, or at least take it to the next stage, and put in place a functional emissions trading scheme in which price can be used to guide economic behaviour and reduce emissions. It puts in place the administrative structure that will actually bring some meaning to that. And it will give New Zealand an emissions trading scheme that, linked up with the zero carbon legislation that was passed almost unanimously by this House last year, will give New Zealand a world-leading scheme and actually put us on to the path to doing what all members of this House know we need to do, which is to reduce our emissions.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000660\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022098b8334-57f8-4062-bac6-bfbc3474e88e\u0022\u003EI commend this second reading of the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill\u2014[Interruption] I know to the great disappointment of members on the other side of the House, who would have enjoyed eight minutes more on this bill. But I think quality counts more than the quantity that they have offered this evening. I commend the bill to the House, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000661\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022098b8334-57f8-4062-bac6-bfbc3474e88e\u0022\u003EThe question was put that the amendments recommended by the Environment Committee by majority be agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca id=\u0022ee69c1448a954244bfef10393a3e17fe\u0022 name=\u0022division\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EA party vote was called for on the question, That the amendments be agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAyes 63\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealand Labour 46; New Zealand First 9; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 8.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENoes 57\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealand National 55, ACT New Zealand 1; Ross.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAmendments agreed to.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca id=\u002280282caca081406c87e4e89e3dbe805e\u0022 name=\u0022division\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EA party vote was called for on the question, That the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Bill be now read a second time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EAyes 63\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealand Labour 46; New Zealand First 9; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 8.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENoes 57\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003ENew Zealand National 55, ACT New Zealand 1; Ross.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp class=\u0022HpsDivision\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsItem\u0022\u003EBill read a second time.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022HpsHansard\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsProceedingHeading\u0022\u003EBills\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000662\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubjectHeading\u0022 id=\u00220941e86196064173879f7a1c5a922b6e\u0022\u003EResource Management Amendment Bill\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000663\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsSubproceedingHeading\u0022 id=\u0022ef14e0e839be432aa82b0086821e4bc5\u0022\u003ESecond Reading\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000664\u0022\u003EDebate resumed from 27 May.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022 data-id=\u00229bce689487324ccc954a0f1a610d723a\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000665\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00229bce689487324ccc954a0f1a610d723a\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: Members, when we were last considering this bill, the Hon Scott Simpson had the call and he has seven minutes 10 seconds remaining if he should wish to do so. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000666\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022ae1a8cf5547d491899191c9db0a6108f\u0022\u003EHon Scott Simpson\u003C/span\u003E: Thank you, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000667\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u002222a6a3f39d4b48638dc415669cb3ac23\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: I call the Hon Scott Simpson. Just before he starts, I\u2019ll start the clock at five minutes after you\u2019ve done two minutes 10 seconds, just to let you know.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022 data-id=\u00223ba7124c84e9458d896c6a9ba893e2b1\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000668\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00223ba7124c84e9458d896c6a9ba893e2b1\u0022\u003EHon SCOTT SIMPSON (National\u2014Coromandel):\u003C/span\u003E I trust your mathematics, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000669\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022a434482b-7ac1-4862-9ce7-13e63289dee3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022a5d39b249dee4967ac1aa00e74ddcc98\u0022\u003EASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe)\u003C/span\u003E: Ha, ha! Might be a bit longer.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000670\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dcbd1f04408341dd8a7a6db123a6ec28\u0022\u003EHon SCOTT SIMPSON\u003C/span\u003E: Might I say at the outset that it\u2019s a great pleasure to be speaking and finishing my presentation on this second reading at the relatively respectable hour of 9.30 in the evening, as opposed to a couple of minutes to midnight last Friday night when the House was in urgency discussing this very bill. For those people listening at home or watching on television, or indeed in the Chamber who were not up at a couple of minutes before midnight on Friday night listening intently to the discussions taking place in this Chamber, the National Party will be opposing the second reading of this tinkering piece of resource management amendment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000671\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003EThis is by my count the 19th substantive amendment to the Resource Management Act (RMA), and bizarrely the purpose\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000672\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u00227e22bb95-9afb-449c-bcd2-de9fd4f2277c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022826118f3c19a4d2eac3cf253eff15e55\u0022\u003EDavid Seymour\u003C/span\u003E: This one\u2019ll work!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000673\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022144d69fa9ecd47a88ceefd8af7d9d0a9\u0022\u003EHon SCOTT SIMPSON\u003C/span\u003E: This one might just work, Mr Seymour, yeah; it might just work, this one! That\u2019s what the Government thinks, but bizarrely, in the purpose clause of the bill and in the introductory comments, it says that the objectives of this bill are to reduce complexity, increase certainty, restore public participation opportunities, and improve Resource Management Act 1991 processes. The bill also supports the urgent need to improve freshwater management. Well, that\u2019s, effectively, been the same prayer that has been the preface and the purpose of every one of the 18 amendment bills prior to this one.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000674\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003EActually, what\u2019s required in terms of resource management amendment is a complete start again. That is a very big piece of work. In fact, I\u2019m reminded of a conversation I had with former Attorney-General, the Hon Chris Finlayson QC, a couple of years ago when he said, \u201CWell, actually, the only real way to deal with the Resource Management Act is to start again.\u201D But he was quick to point out that in his professional and political opinion, that would be a 15-year project. It may well be, but if that\u2019s what it takes to actually get planning legislation and to get the primary environmental protection legislation of New Zealand into a shape that is finally a piece of legislation that can be respected, can be understood, can achieve results quickly, fairly, and equitably for New Zealanders, then maybe that\u2019s what\u2019s required, because this piece of tinkering legislation does not achieve any of the things that are set out in the purpose statement of the legislation.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000675\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003EOne of the most troubling aspects of this piece of tinkering legislation is that it seems to have an element of vindictiveness about it. What I\u2019m talking about is that the primary function of most of the changes in this legislation is simply to undo the work that was done in the last Parliament, led by my colleague the Hon Nick Smith. He made some very good changes, and this piece of legislation, effectively, just for the sake of pettiness, really, seems to want to just undo those. It\u2019s a bit of political point-scoring. The fact that it\u2019s taken the Government nearly its entire three years to get to it, I guess, tells the House and members of the public something about the Government\u2019s real enthusiasm for this. It\u2019s a rushed piece of legislation towards the end of their term of Government, and, as I say, there\u2019s a level of vindictiveness to it that I find quite upsetting.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000676\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003EBut really, at the core of it, the thing that is most concerning is that the Government themselves have set about in November of last year to appoint an expert panel led by no less a person than a retired appeal court judge, the honourable Tony Randerson, to actually produce sensible, considered, well-thought-out RMA reform proposals. Now, it was pre-COVID that that committee, that working group, chaired by the honourable Tony Randerson was due to report before the end of last month in May. Now, we\u2019re told that the Minister in his speech the other night, at about 10 minutes to midnight, made it clear that he now expected that report to be, conveniently, another month or two away\u2014conveniently because it\u2019s going to be in mid-September that we\u2019re going to have a general election. Isn\u2019t that fortuitous\u2014isn\u2019t that fortuitous!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000677\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f429fecb-a955-4d95-8105-e5144e651204\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00228041e3d7786c4341b6ff5f97706106a2\u0022\u003EDan Bidois\u003C/span\u003E: Who would have thought!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000678\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022d9f2291857f945bab15117eb3100f489\u0022\u003EHon SCOTT SIMPSON\u003C/span\u003E: \u201CWho would have thought.\u201D, says my colleague the member for Northcote. What we have is a situation where a piece of reform work is going to be presented to this Parliament, this Government, literally a few days, if not a matter of weeks, before the general election.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000679\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003ESo why are we tinkering with this? Well, the questions remain unanswered. The select committee, as they went through their work, wasn\u2019t really able to provide any sensible answers. But what was very apparent at select committee was that there is very clear consensus that both the Government Labour Party, for one\u2014no one quite knows what New Zealand First thinks about it, and the Greens, of course, will go off on an ideological flight of fancy, but certainly the Labour Party of the coalition and National, we agree that the RMA in its current form is underperforming. It\u2019s underperforming for our planning and built environment, and it\u2019s certainly underperforming in terms of being the nation\u2019s primary resource and piece of legislation to protect our natural environment.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000680\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003EThere\u2019s nothing in this bill, for instance, that\u2019s going to address housing affordability; it\u2019s going to make building houses more difficult. They\u2019ve tried to bring in under the cover of COVID a quirky little thing where suddenly climate change is going to have to be considered as part of the consenting process. Now, an earlier amendment backed by a Labour Government in 2004 specifically excluded\u2014specifically excluded\u2014consideration of climate change matters in RMA consenting, and that was done for the very good reason that every single council will have a different interpretation; every regional council will have a different interpretation. But, no, for some reason, a Government policy halfway through the select committee process sought to introduce, suddenly, that climate change should be a factor considered by resource consenting process. We don\u2019t think that that\u2019s a good idea, we don\u2019t think that\u2019s appropriate; we think it\u2019s just very messy and very ill-considered.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000681\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002298dbeffa-e059-49d5-8bbf-579cbaead9a3\u0022\u003ESo we\u2019re going to oppose this piece of legislation. It\u2019s tinkering, it doesn\u2019t add any value, and, actually, what\u2019s really required is a start-again approach to resource management in New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022 data-id=\u002207246d6b5e7a4a76bc6e79d798cbc863\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000682\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u002207246d6b5e7a4a76bc6e79d798cbc863\u0022\u003EDr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour\u2014Christchurch Central):\u003C/span\u003E T\u0113n\u0101 koe, Mr Speaker. Look, I\u2019m not even going to dwell on the retrograde do-nothing politics of the National Party when it comes to things as important as freshwater policy. But what I am going to do is I just want to touch on one thing and leave some of my colleagues to identify some of the other important improvements in this bill. What I want to talk about is, really, the shift in the way hearings will be conducted, particularly around fresh water. We know that the resource management process has got bogged down in appeals and in extensive hearings, and, really, it has been a costly process that, arguably, has been over lawyered and, in some ways, over engineered. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000683\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003ESo in the Environment Committee we looked at that process, particularly freshwater panels, and we said: how can we make it accessible, how can we make it understandable, and how can we make it easier to get great outcomes so that we can actually make our rivers swimmable? What we thought was, really, that we wanted to be careful about the use of cross-examination\u2014was one point. Cross-examination can, in fact, not be the best way to get to the heart of a matter. In fact, when you\u2019ve got laypeople coming to the tribunal, when you\u2019ve got expert witnesses, what we want is a much more investigative and inquisitorial process. If we look at new clause 47(2) of Schedule 1 in clause 72 of the bill, we\u2019ll see that the freshwater hearings panel can \u201C(a) permit a party to question a witness:\u201D or/and \u201C(b) prohibit cross examination:\u201D or \u201C(c) permit cross examination \u2026 but only if the panel is satisfied that it is in the interests of justice:\u201D and \u201C(d) regulate the conduct of \u2026 cross examination.\u201D So those processes are very much saying we do not want some legalistic full-blown courtroom drama on our hands; we want to get to what\u2019s best for our rivers.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000684\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003EAnother innovation, and one that I think is really important, is the ability of the panel to appoint a friend of a submitter. We have a lot of concerned people who have genuine and real concerns but don\u2019t know the law, don\u2019t know the procedures, and they want to come and really be heard and help make our waters better and cleaner and fresher. Now the panel will be able to say this grouping has a legitimate voice, and we want to make sure it is effectively heard by appointing a friend of the submitter. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000685\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f7fc7ac3-5ce1-43ca-8cd6-dbb0941bf3ae\u0022\u003EThey\u2019re just a couple of things which the select committee, in a collaborative way, looked at and said this is a better way to reach the end goal of having cleaner, swimmable fresh water in New Zealand\u2014not a minor objective but one that this Government has stood on and is committed to achieving in the near future. Thank you, Mr Speaker.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022 data-id=\u0022193c7c12e8854a6bbbd0ea0057fb2b69\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000686\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022193c7c12e8854a6bbbd0ea0057fb2b69\u0022\u003ENICOLA WILLIS (National):\u003C/span\u003E This bill is a clear example of how this Government operates, which is to say it talks big and it delivers very little. Because here in the Resource Management Act (RMA), we have a piece of legislation that is acknowledged\u2014now, on both sides of the House\u2014to be a key impediment to the delivery of affordable housing in New Zealand, to good development, and to good environmental management. And such is the agreement on that argument that members opposite have agreed that there should be a specialist panel looking at how the Resource Management Act be reviewed and improved so that it can deliver better results for New Zealanders in the future.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000687\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003ESo we have an expert panel; it\u2019s been established to go about improving the RMA, and then what do we have here? You would think, if there was this expert panel going about looking at this issue in thoroughness and with due process, that perhaps we would be in this House awaiting the outcomes from that panel. But no; instead, what we have is this piecemeal piece of legislation which does a couple of bespoke amendments to the Resource Management Act without any reference to the wider reform that needs to occur. And we on this side of the House think that sort of thing is a distraction and will only create more cost, more delay, and more uncertainty for those who need to operate under this Act.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000688\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003ESo we have a problem with the process. We also see very clearly that this is a step backwards. It\u2019s a Back to the Future series of amendments, because what it largely does is reverse good improvements made to the Resource Management Act by National in 2017. Those changes in 2017 were made in order to accelerate house building, to improve environmental management, to ensure more national consistency, to simplify consenting, to make planning more responsive, and to align with other laws. But Labour didn\u2019t like those changes at the time, for whatever reason, and so, in an act of, as our earlier speaker, Scott Simpson, said, vindictiveness, have gone through and reversed these changes. And it makes no rhyme or reason, because, as I said at the beginning of my speech, we on both sides of the House agree that, in New Zealand right now, we have a major challenge with a lack of housing supply. So you would think, in amending the Resource Management Act, members opposite would have a mind to \u201CHow can we improve this piece of legislation in such a way that more houses are built?\u201D But, instead, let\u2019s look at what this bill actually does.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000689\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003ESo the first thing it does is it says, \u201CActually, the rules that National changed to allow for some more subdivision, we\u2019ll turn over.\u201D In 2017, National saw that we wanted more subdivisions to be able to occur so that we could have more housing brought on, and we made it that subdivisions could occur unless they were specifically restricted by a district plan, so that\u2014on the margin\u2014more subdivision would occur. And, of course, this is very significant because if we think about the housing challenge in New Zealand, well, yes, there\u2019s probably a role for the Government in building houses. The members opposite haven\u2019t been very successful in that, for sure\u2014only 395 KiwiBuild houses have actually been built\u2014but even if you were to take into account all of the State houses that have been built, around 1,400 have been built. The much bigger picture of housing supply in New Zealand is private development\u2014the 37,000 or so residential new dwelling consents that are issued each year. That is where the bulk of new housing comes from in New Zealand.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000690\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003ESo when we think about how to improve our housing supply over time, that private sector development is really important. So where does it happen? Well, of course, some of it happens in major, large developments on a huge scale, but actually a huge amount of it happens incrementally, subdivision by subdivision. So it is an absolute mystery to us on this side of the House as to why that Government, who says it cares about housing supply, would come in and change the Resource Management Act to mean that people can\u2019t do subdivision unless specifically allowed to. That seems a step backwards.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000691\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003EBut that\u2019s not the only thing that this bill does to get in the way of housing supply. The second thing that it does is it re-introduces appeals to the Environment Court for activities to subdivide. So what we can foresee happening is an increase in delays and an increase in appeals\u2014hundreds and hundreds of appeals\u2014adding cost, adding complexity, putting developers off the potential to subdivide and increase housing supply in New Zealand. And, again, these were changes made in 2017 to this Act because National recognised some real impediments within our resource management laws stopping new housing coming on. And Labour, in what can only be seen as an act of spite, because there is no better public policy rationale, have overturned that change.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000692\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003EThe bill then goes further and it reintroduces financial contributions. Of course, at the moment, local government can have contributions required as development contributions under the Local Government Act, and National takes no issue with that, but what we did do in 2017 was we streamlined the pieces of law so that you couldn\u2019t require a financial contribution under the RMA as well as under the Local Government Act. Again, the Government comes in, overturns that, and we now have a situation where developers can be required to provide financial contributions under both pieces of legislation. But, mind, there is an exception here, a convenient little exception that the Government\u2019s own entities, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Defence, are not required to make these financial contributions. Again these amendments do not make good sense. It is hard to see, in any way, that they align with the goal of bringing on more housing development.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000693\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003ESo, taken as a whole, this bill is a corruption of process and it introduces bespoke amendments ahead of a wholesale review. It shows a rejection of what has actually become a bipartisan agreement that the Resource Management Act is failing New Zealanders and must be reformed. Instead of taking up that agreement with members opposite and working with us on sensible reforms, we\u2019ve seen a petty act of spite overturning good amendments made in the past. And, finally, it steps us backwards in terms of some of the things\u2014some of the small but meaningful changes\u2014that have been made to reduce cost, uncertainty, and delay in our resource management laws.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000694\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003ESo we in National oppose this bill. We do not hold out hope that the members opposite have it in them to provide the kind of wholesale Resource Management Act reform that is required to improve housing supply and improve environmental management in New Zealand. We can see that the delay in the panel until later this year is very symbolic of the approach of that side of the House, which is talk big, don\u2019t deliver, don\u2019t deal with the gritty issues, don\u2019t get to the nub of the problem. And, if we are elected in this election in September, we will repeal this Act, we will improve this Act, and we will do so in a way that ensures the provision of more housing for New Zealanders and actually gets to the nub of problems that members opposite are only interested in window dressing about.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022 data-id=\u00228be567a66e354324ba13338c89189572\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000695\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u00228be567a66e354324ba13338c89189572\u0022\u003EHon RON MARK (NZ First):\u003C/span\u003E Thank you, Mr Speaker. Well it really is a curious thing\u2014and I\u2019ve said it before\u2014if you stand still in this place for long enough, you get to hear the same people, who were once in Government, giving speeches that sound just like the Opposition gave when they were putting legislation through that the Opposition of the day objected to. And you have the ironic situation where the Opposition today, who was the Government then, ends up giving the same speeches that we gave when we were sitting over there, and they wouldn\u2019t listen.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000696\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EThere\u2019s this old saying, \u201CBrevity is the soul of wit.\u201D So I guess to not be brief might be said to be \u201Cwit-less\u201D, which is probably what I would conclude from a man who\u2014the Hon Scott Simpson, who I greatly respected as the chairman of the Environment Committee when I served on it while he was in Government. I say that because his speech was a lot of huff and puff\u2014used up the whole 10 minutes and didn\u2019t actually say anything of any worth, tragically. \u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000697\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EI\u2019m reminded of Denis O\u2019Rourke\u2014a member of Parliament, NZ First\u2014who sat in those seats over there, and for I think 13 hours in committee stage tried desperately to get the National Government of the day to make some sensible, common-sense changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA). And I have to sit here now and listen to Mr Scott Simpson saying, \u201CWell, what\u2019s needed is to throw the whole RMA out and start again.\u201D But of course in the next breath, \u201CBut it\u2019ll take 15 years to get it done.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000698\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003EWell, we haven\u2019t got 15 years to dither and dawdle around, ladies and gentlemen. We\u2019ve got a very short window of time to get some stuff done. I would simply say to the Opposition, the National Party\u2019s resource amendment\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000699\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00222fe50c716aa946cfa9b4942f55242ef2\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Your time\u2019s almost up!\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000700\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00229a04fd227f5b498597f1634a775da1eb\u0022\u003EHon RON MARK\u003C/span\u003E: Listen up, young fella, you might learn something. Listen up, both ears. Nanny used to say, \u201CMouth shut, ears open, learn a lot.\u201D OK, so listen up. The resource management amendment bill that the John Key - led National Government put through took about 30-odd hours of Parliament time. It had people virtually camped in here under urgency. Not one of the amendments that New Zealand First offered up were accepted, and now people have got the audacity to preach back at us that we\u2019re not listening. So get with the programme; we don\u2019t have 15 years to amend it. We\u2019ve got work to do. This is a first step in a couple of phases. If the Opposition want to get on board and help, if they truly want to remove the bureaucracy, if they truly want to get\u2014remember, Mr Guy, the troubles with the Horizons One Plan. Remember that\u2014your area, Horizons. Well, what did the Government of the day do about that? Nothing. One Plan choked a lot of dairy farmers in the Wairarapa and the Tararua and, I know, through the Manawat\u016B\u2014and kept on going. Wherever the One Plan spread its tentacles, farmers died. Their businesses were severely impacted.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000701\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022fea8cc50cbf040bb8aa2dfdd5d7506f9\u0022\u003EHon Nathan Guy\u003C/span\u003E: They didn\u2019t die.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000702\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dd63d9931b8f4852906aa18e93c15848\u0022\u003EHon RON MARK\u003C/span\u003E: Well, actually, be cautious, because we hear stories about people who actually did commit suicide. We hear stories about farms that went to the wall. We hear stories about equity that just evaporated overnight. And what was that all down to? It was down to the Resource Management Act and the way it was being implemented by Horizons. Some of us fought against those changes, but some sat there in Government and let it happen.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000703\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002207dc4112-8a19-4dd6-a57c-878b47f8a9b6\u0022\u003ESo some of us are sitting here trying to do something. My simple message is \u201CGet on board. Help move this bill through. If one really does want to address the bureaucracy, if one really does want to get some common-sense changes, here\u2019s the opportunity. We would welcome that help.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ca name=\u0022member\u0022 data-type=\u0022article\u0022 data-memberid=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022 data-id=\u0022082612cd10f642e99643aaaf03db49d5\u0022\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000704\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsByToc\u0022 id=\u0022082612cd10f642e99643aaaf03db49d5\u0022\u003EHon NATHAN GUY (National\u2014\u014Ctaki):\u003C/span\u003E It\u2019s a pleasure to follow from the Hon Ron Mark and reminiscing about the One Plan. He was more or less indicating that the National Government should have been meddling in a court process. Yeah, that\u2019s not the way that we operated in Government. I know that New Zealand First may well have wanted to do that.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000705\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EI thought it\u2019s ironic, Ron Mark banging on about the One Plan. Well, he\u2019s sitting in Cabinet now, and the Wairarapa water storage project, which is really going to help the community where he resides\u2014finally, he\u2019s put some money in. Finally, he\u2019s put some money into it.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000706\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223dd9fe832d7e45269e4647b42f5e4bdb\u0022\u003EHon Member\u003C/span\u003E: Thirty-five years they waited.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000707\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u00223ba5ae66066247ea9869345b45160d67\u0022\u003EHon NATHAN GUY\u003C/span\u003E: Yeah, and we, the National Government, put a lot of money in. I acknowledge the Minister for doing that, because Labour campaigned along with the Greens for no support for water storage projects. So it\u2019s kind of interesting how politics works on the other side of the House, for those that are listening, and no doubt we\u2019re going to hear more of that when we move into an election campaign\u2014just a couple of months away. In fact, we can already start seeing that evolve with COVID-19.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000708\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EYou may well ask what this bill has got to do with COVID-19. Well, it actually has got a hell of a lot to do with COVID-19. When this response moves, as it is now, from a health response to an economic one, when the New Zealand economy is screaming out for infrastructure to stimulate it, to protect jobs, to grow opportunity, what is this bill going to do to help stimulate the New Zealand economy? It\u2019s a fair question. Their heads are down over the other side. I\u2019ll answer the question myself: very little.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000709\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EThis bill will do very little. If anything, it will be a couple of clicks on the handbrake. It will slow the New Zealand economy. Nicola Willis, our new housing spokesperson, gave a great contribution just a couple of moments ago to this bill, where she said it is going to be a step backwards. It is going to create more costs, more uncertainty, and more bureaucracy at a time when New Zealanders are thinking, \u201CWe need to really get started and build some infrastructure and build some houses to protect jobs and grow the New Zealand economy.\u201D\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000710\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EI\u2019m really disappointed in this bill. It promised so much, but it\u2019s going to deliver so little. I\u2019ve sat in this House and sat in the Cabinet table, listened to the Minister for the Environment Nick Smith, who had big bold plans to reform the Resource Management Act (RMA) and couldn\u2019t get the numbers through the National coalition with United Future and, at times, the M\u0101ori Party. So the changes that National implemented in 2017 were never as good as we wanted them to be, but we did make changes.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000711\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003ENow, looking back is one fine thing, but looking forward is really important. If we look back just for a moment, the RMA has had 18 reforms since it came in about 30 years ago.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000712\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u0022f12da0af-dc73-4870-8f77-1d50a75eb44c\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022452b64bacc7348af923b2bd5f510d8fa\u0022\u003ENicola Willis\u003C/span\u003E: It\u2019s a beast.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000713\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022938cf6e3eb184aaba70310b31bcbd743\u0022\u003EHon NATHAN GUY\u003C/span\u003E: \u201CIt is a beast.\u201D, Nicola Willis rightly says. The volume size has grown by double. So there\u2019s been tinkering and changes and amendments\u2014\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000714\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002261720d2e-5b1d-4742-b4f0-30424316ccc1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022dd6194c1e6754910a54d4875e58806c6\u0022\u003EBarbara Kuriger\u003C/span\u003E: Bigger than this.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000715\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsBy\u0022 id=\u0022567fea998f2341a7b8d8e9f5c35be0a7\u0022\u003EHon NATHAN GUY\u003C/span\u003E: Way bigger than that bill. We just debated that, Barbara Kuriger, and I mention that it\u2019s 720-odd pages long when you include the Supplementary Order Paper\u2014that\u2019s the emission trading scheme bill. This bill is about environment and planning, the RMA is, and trying to get the balance right. But this is not going to get the balance right at all. It is going to mean that the appeals when someone wants to subdivide\u2014take a developer: it\u2019s going to be so easy for people to appeal, and they\u2019re going to be bogged down in the Environment Court. There will be hundreds and hundreds of appeals though the Environment Court, which is not what I thought the Government would want to see on the back of COVID-19, when they\u2019re trying to open up the New Zealand economy and create jobs and kick-start our economy as well.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000716\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EWhat is also interesting is the financial contributions. We get the fact that local government and councils should be able to strike a development charge on developers from time to time. We get that, because that\u2019s important when you think about all of the major utilities that are involved in building a subdivision\u2014the roading, the sewer, the lighting, the footpaths. It\u2019s only fair that a developer makes contributions under the Local Government Act. But this means, now, that there\u2019s another contribution that could be required under the Resource Management Act. So if that sounds like double-dipping to those listening or in the Chamber this evening, that indeed is what it actually is.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000717\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EWhat is also a bit bizarre, and I\u2019m going to get into this when we get into the committee of the whole House stage, is how submitters will be able to cross-examine other submitters. Do you think that sounds a little bit bizarre, that submitters are allowed to cross-examine other submitters? I can see heads sort of thinking, \u201CThat\u2019s a pretty good question.\u201D Even on our side of the House, we\u2019re thinking, \u201CHow\u2019s that going to work?\u201D So I\u2019m curious to get the Minister in the chair to try and understand how that specific point is actually going to work and streamline the Resource Management Act.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000718\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EWe had 385 submitters. We heard 59 of them. Some of those submitters had spent a lot of time and effort into making very, very good submissions. Others were there saying, \u201CYes, we just think that the RMA is so frustrating that any change has to be better than it currently is.\u201D, but they obviously hadn\u2019t read the bill, because this bill is going to drop the anchor out of the back of a progressive and growing New Zealand economy and slow down our growth at a time when we really want it to turbocharge and grow.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000719\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003ESo the National Party has some grave concerns with this bill. We can\u2019t support it. The other concluding comment is there\u2019s a review under way. The Minister will have that on his office desk, done by a retired appeal court judge. It\u2019ll be thorough, and the process should be a full re-write of the RMA, not more tinkering that\u2019s going to slow down the New Zealand economy. Thank you.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000720\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EDebate interrupted.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000721\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003EThe House adjourned at 10 p.m.\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp id=\u0022id20200602e86048b5ffbf437faf390e332deba94c000722\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022HpsNormal\u0022 id=\u002223de6bd3-0482-495d-88f4-7cc3f75d8442\u0022\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n    \u003C/div\u003E\n  \u003C/body\u003E\n\u003C/html\u003E"